General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat are the best charities to donate to in support for Hurricane Sandy victims?
My wife and I want to help, but we don't want to give 90% of our donation to go towards building some asshole CEO's summer home.
I hear Red Cross is a bad bet. We were thinking the Salvation Army?
Any advice?
OldHippieChick
(2,434 posts)All volunteers. Money goes to those in need. If you'd like a link I'll get you one.
Curtland1015
(4,404 posts)We appreciate it!
Thekaspervote
(32,778 posts)I do like the red cross. Doctors without borders is there too. As a registered nurse having been involved in that dot org, the money goes to the victims, doctors and nurses are working pro bono. Good luck!!
jsmirman
(4,507 posts)Without Borders is pretty badass.
Those folks are a little crazy with some of the risks they take, but they are hardcore legit.
Curtland1015
(4,404 posts)jsmirman
(4,507 posts)and if you want to help the animals, Humane Society of the United States is good on disaster relief, and if you want a totally non-controversial and great charity, Alley Cat Allies does amazing disaster relief.
Curtland1015
(4,404 posts)jsmirman
(4,507 posts)One last option that I just donated to tonight is the North Shore Animal League. They also are doing great work responding to the disaster.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)marybourg
(12,633 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)marybourg
(12,633 posts)by the example of their service, not by proselytizing, in my experience and that of family members.
Science Geek
(161 posts)And has been known, recently, to fire GLBT employees of their stores for nothing more than their orientation.
1986
The Salvation Army collects signatures for a petition to stop the New Zealand legislature from decriminalizing homosexuality. The Homosexual Law Reform Act passes anyway.
2001
An internal document from the Salvation Army says the charity has a "firm commitment" from the Bush administration for a national regulation shielding it and other religious charities from city and state laws barring discrimination against gays and lesbians, The Washington Post reports. The Salvation Army never discriminates in who it serves, says senior official George Hood, but being forced to hire gays "really begins to chew away at the theological fabric of who we are."
2004
The Salvation Army threatens to leave New York City if Mayor Michael Bloomberg enforces a new ordinance requiring all groups with city contracts to offer benefits to the same-sex partners of employees. Bloomberg, who opposed the ordinance, doesn't enforce it.
2006
The New Zealand branch of the Salvation Army apologizes over any remaining "hurt" from its prominent role in trying to stymie the Homosexual Law Reform Act 20 years earlier
2012
June 21, 2012
Maj. Andrew Craibe, the Australian Salvation Army spokesman, goes on the radio program Salt and Pepper, where gay hosts Serena Ryan and Pete Dillon ask him about his organization's assertion in its official Salvation Story: Salvationist Handbook of Doctrine that practicing homosexuals "deserve to die." "So we should die," Ryan tells Craibe, who replies: "You know, we have an alignment to the Scriptures, but thats our belief."
Present
Many LGBT people are rejected by the evangelical church charity because they're "sexually impure."
Present
he church claims it holds "a positive view of human sexuality," but then clarifies that "sexual intimacy is understood as a gift of God to be enjoyed within the context of heterosexual marriage." The Salvation Army doesn't believe that gays and lesbians should ever know the intimacy of any loving relationship, instead teaching that "Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life."
Present
On its webpage, the group claims that "the services of The Salvation Army are available to all who qualify, without regard to sexual orientation." While the words are nice, their actions speak volumes. They blatantly ignore the position statement and deny LGBT people services unless they renounce their sexuality, end same-sex relationships, or, in some cases, attend services "open to all who confess Christ as Savior and who accept and abide by The Salvation Army's doctrine and discipline." In other words, if you're gay or lesbian, you don't qualify.
In the United Kingdom, the Salvation Army actively pushed passage of an amendment to the Local Government Act. The amendment stated that local authorities "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship." The law has since been repealed, but it led many schools and colleges to close LGBT student organizations out of fear they'd lose their government funding.
In 2001, the organization tried to extract a resolution from the White House that they could ignore local non-discrimination laws that protected LGBT people. While the commitment would have applied to all employees, the group claimed that it needed the resolution so it "did not have to ordain sexually active gay ministers and did not have to provide medical benefits to the same-sex partners of employees." After lawmakers and civil rights activists revealed the Salvation Army's active resistance to non-discrimination laws, the White House admitted the charity was seeking the exemptions.
Also in 2001, the evangelical charity actively lobbied to change how the Bush administration would distribute over $24 billion in grants and tax deductions by urging the White House deny funding to any cities or states that included LGBT non-discrimination laws. Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary, issued a statement saying the administration was denying a "regulation sought by the church to protect the right of taxpayer-funded religious organizations to discriminate against homosexuals."
Logical
(22,457 posts)Corgigal
(9,291 posts)World's Largest No-Kill Animal Rescue
and Adoption Organization and they are based in NY, not far from NYC.
http://www.animalleague.org/
eqfan592
(5,963 posts)Because whoever they are, never listen to them again for advice, ever.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277
4 out of 5 stars, with over 92% of funds going directly to program expenses.
Science Geek
(161 posts)And they help all kinds of people in all walks of life.
My mom worked for the Red Cross doing service for military families and was constantly opening our home to people in need after storms, after spousal abuse, after the death of a husband, after a house fire, etc... Once they were emotionally stabilized, she'd work with the Red Cross and our congress critters to provide for their long-term needs.
It wasn't just here's your help, now go away, no sir, the Red Cross is in for the long-haul helping people get all the way back to normal lives.
Curtland1015
(4,404 posts)...a year. Poor management in general. No control over where your money goes. Things like that.
Maybe I read too much into it. Maybe half or all I've read about them is just crap. But then, I really don't know either way.
One of the reasons I was asking!
eqfan592
(5,963 posts)But that's because it is such a large organization. The salary in a private sector position for a company the size of the Red Cross would be well into the millions.
The "no control over where your money goes" complaint is likely from morons who only want to help a single group of people in a single disaster and for some reason think that no other people will ever need help from the Red Cross after, or that those people aren't worthy of their funding. This goes back to the post 9/11 "scandal" where the Red Cross took the action of stashing some of the funds donated during the 9/11 donation campaigns aside for future attacks and natural disasters. The CEO at that time actually had to resign over the issue.
And no worries, I'm not taking it out on you for asking a question, but when I say an org like the Red Cross put down online by ignorant assholes (again, not talking about you, but the people who wrote the garbage you read) it just pisses me off. Probably because I used to volunteer on a disaster action team and witnessed first hand the sort of help the Red Cross delivers on a daily basis to people experiencing disasters large and small all over the country.
Hekate
(90,714 posts)http://www.directrelief.org/tag/hurricane-sandy/
They donate medical supplies and medical services -- nothing is wasted. DRI is one of my two favorite charities (the other is Planned Parenthood). Check them out at the links.
Hekate