Red Cross Donation Mismanagement

American Red Cross Donation Mismanagement Government aid and assistance has been very helpful to all people when they need but not this time in New York. Last month Super Storm Sandy hit the north east USA which caused some serious damage. All Americans had donated tons of money to big agencies so it could be helpful for the victims. Red Cross raised billions of dollars whether it was during Sandy, Katrina, Haiti and 9/11. However, Red Cross did spend some amount of money in helping and provided the food service. The question that revolves around the brain is after raising huge amount then where has all the money gone? Red Cross is world known agency but why they always have some sort of error in their finance accountability? Now I’m not saying that Red Cross is steals money but why don’t they just provide accurate accountability? People want to know where there donated money is being used. Red Cross has been providing many major relief everywhere in the world.

Their main issue is mismanagement of funds and donation. When it comes to donations Red Cross has been on top in collecting. The money they get from donations they use it for many welfare purposes like distributing food, clothes and sheltering the victims. But only some of the money is spent on all those stuff. Most of the money gets disappeared which they don’t even tell us. They have poor history of accountability. Talking about Hurricane Sandy many major devastated parts like breezy point in Rockaway, Staten Island didn’t receive any major help Red Cross. They were also criticized for their slow and helpless responses in certain areas. Red Cross announces that they raises most money in America than any other agencies but, why were they didn’t provide good help to the victims? They wouldn’t be slow in their response time if they would have spent all money they collected then it would’ve been better in service.

The article by James Brenan, “The Red Cross Fraud After Super Storm Sandy.” tell us that even after the vast destruction by sandy which burnt down 130 houses and terminated everything came in the way, even after that they were no indications of the Red Cross. Later after 11 days, only truck showed up distributing hot dogs and announces the Red Cross collected $117 million for help. After that announcement, the first thing that pops up in mind is where have all the money gone? If they have raised 117 million, why didn’t they provide major helping hands besides donating bunch of hot dogs? I believe Red Cross isn’t wishing to help us. It shall not be given any more dimes because they are taking the money but not investing in way to end suffering. They just want to keep their treasury full. Alike sandy, in Hurricane Katrina was also disastrous job. They responded slow, had lack in preparation, and they didn’t deploy enough emergency vehicle which made tough for the people to reach.

Going back to point, Red Cross was accused for stealing money. Sandy Boyer say in his article “The Red Cross Missing in Action” briefly acknowledges us with Red Cross sucking our money. He says during Katrina, “EX-volunteer and attorney Jerome Nickerson stated that millions of the dollars in relief supplies were stolen with the full knowledge of the Red Cross managers” (Boyer). It is clearly shown that Red Cross robs people. They know how to take but not to give. Americans ended up donating billions of dollars in Katrina but instead of using it on helpful purposes they were busy pocketing the money. Not only had they stole Hurricanes money but also stole money donated in September 11, 2001 and Haiti earthquake. Red Cross has made decent use of the social media. During Hurricane Sandy and devastating earthquake in Haiti, Red Cross used mobile phone text service to get donations. This text messaging idea was successful which lead them to raise $23 million during Hurricane Sandy (redcross.org) and $7 million for Haiti.

However, after collecting such huge amount in Sandy they still were slow in response and didn’t provide and long term aid. Haiti earthquake they were able to raise money around $444 million out of which they only spent 25% which is $111 million and rest they kept it (Attkission). Their CEO said that they have long terms plans for Haiti. Current millions of people in Haiti are still homeless and haven’t given sufficient money. So what is the purpose of collecting millions if they can’t provide shelter to victims? In 9/11 Red Cross collected $564 million but they ended up only with $154 and said rest will used to fight war on terrorism. It also said that most of the money is received by CEO Gail McGovern.

As Washington post revealed in 2008 she make 500,000 dollars with 65,000 bonuses. On their official website they tell us that they collection certain amount but it never states how much they have invested. According to their pie chart on Haiti it tells us they spent 33% of money on shelter but still most of Haitians are living in tents. Even though on their official redcross.org website they provide all information about their funding but the other articles does. Even though Red Cross provides us disaster relief which is providing shelter, food and money to people who are effected but mostly Red Cross does half of it by providing good food and shelter but not the money. Red Cross was on headlines of the news due to the mismanagement of the funds and donations. They use millions for their ad campaigns. Red Cross needs to fulfill the people expectation not only with providing food, shelter and shelter perhaps financial aid as well. All sources in essay give us good details about Red Cross and clarify the way money is spending.

Work Cited

(MLA) Brennan, James. “Opinion.” U-T San Diego. N.p., 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. http://web.utsandiego.com/news/2012/nov/30/the-red-cross-fraud-after-superstorm-sandy/> Boyer, Sandy. “The Red Cross: Missing in Action.” Daily News and Opinion from the Left. N.p., 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. <http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/19/red-cross-missing-in-action>. Attikson, Sharly. “Following the Aid Money to Haiti.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 12 July 2010. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-6477611.html>. “Red Cross Defends Handling of Sept. 11 Donations.” CNN. N.p., 06 Nov. 2001. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. <http://articles.cnn.com/2001-11-06/us/rec.charity.hearing_1_liberty-fund-red-cross-relief-agency?_s=PM:US>. “Http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m3640089_HaitiEarthquake_TwoYearReport.pdf.” ‘Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together’ Generates Nearly $23 Million. N.p., Jan. 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. “‘Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together’ Generates Nearly $23 Million.” ‘Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together’ Generates Nearly $23 Million. N.p., Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012