How the Red Cross Spends Money

A good hearted conservative tried to convince me today that only $0.05 of every dollar donated to the Red Cross went towards helping people and that their financial records were not public. This is not the case. In fact, the exact opposite is the reality of the situation. "Management and General" account for 5% of the 2003 Operating Expenditures, as can be seen in their 2003 Report to the American People (PDF). But wait...there's more!

Of course, his point was that the Red Cross isn't 100% good. There is some non-zero amount of "waste" in the organization. That cannot be denied, nor is it a realistic standard to hold any organization that deals with over $3 billion a year. Just look at how hard it is for the Pentagon to keep track of all their cash. They're still trying to account for over $2.3 trillion. I'm not trying to make excuses, just pointing out reality. Trying to keep waste as close to zero as possible is the goal, all the while maximizing the number of people helped. That and public financial records should be just what the doctor ordered.

For other tasty tidbits you might want to browse their Federal Charter to see how they are tied to the Department of Defense.