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In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

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Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#191

Post by reagency »

Lawtonfogle wrote: post #165
Alupis wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it takes bribing a corrupt official to save lives, I don't think most donors would have a real issue with that. Except in this case it seems they bribed so many corrupt officials that there was nothing left for actual aide... I think it's far more plausible they just waste the money away on "Administrative" fees and project mismanagement at enormous scale. This is a "charitable" organization which has run rampan…

When people expect you to pay far below market rates for management (and sometimes expect it to be volunteer only), it is inevitable that you will suffer massive mismanagement. Even organizations with great management make massive expensive blunders.

ARC pays massive salaries

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#192

Post by reagency »

maxerickson wrote: post #127
shawnee_ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a look at RC's "Annual Report" from 2014 ... http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4... This is a fluff piece full of pictures and words. No numbers or financial statements. On page 26 there are a couple pie charts that vaguely outline some general categories of outflows and inflows. No details. If a NYSE company (or even a private company) tried to put out an Annual Report with this kind of…

They do publish their financial statements and tax returns, see here: http://www.redcross.org/about-us/publications This seems to be a common pattern with non profits, to separately issue their financials and annual reports. I'm not sure why.

The report is advertising. They don't want donors to see the financials.

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#193

Post by reagency »

jacquesm wrote: post #3

I stopped giving to 'big charities' twenty years ago and since then have only helped people locally where I can see what happens to the money. That's a real pity because of course on a relative scale those are probably much less in need than the people in Haiti (and Nepal and other areas devastated by natural disasters). But the red cross - once a paragon of virtue - and a number of other big time charities that were…

And yet you probably don't live anywhere near the people whone need charity the most, so you can't give effectovely locally.

Try givewell.org

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#194

Post by reagency »

SloopJon wrote: post #121
jacquesm wrote: post #3

I stopped giving to 'big charities' twenty years ago and since then have only helped people locally where I can see what happens to the money. That's a real pity because of course on a relative scale those are probably much less in need than the people in Haiti (and Nepal and other areas devastated by natural disasters). But the red cross - once a paragon of virtue - and a number of other big time charities that were…

I was upset to hear that nearly $30 million of the tsunami relief money ended up subsidizing the Japanese whaling fleet. (Heard that on Whale Wars, so I'm not 100% sure it's true.)

$30M is what Percentage?

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#195

Post by reagency »

jonstokes wrote: post #60

My wife and I worked in some Red Cross shelters in Lake Charles, LA in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. I wrote a bit about what I was doing here: http://arstechnica.com/security/2005/10/disaster-livecd/ My take-away from that is that I would never, ever donate a dime to that organization. The people in the local chapters who were the first to respond immediately after the disaster were fantastic. But when the nat…

That's the way to do it. In kind contributions is every individual and business's social responsibility. The profession charities specialize in....fundraising , not concrete benefit.

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#196

Post by reagency »

justinpropub wrote: post #82
vasilipupkin wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NPR story I heard yesteday went out of its way to emphasize that Red Cross did do some good things in Haiti. So, in your view, is the failure mainly due to difficulty in operating in Haiti and their lack of local expertise? Or is Red Cross just hopeless and we should stop donating to it ?

There's no question Haiti is a difficult place to operate, especially after the earthquake. For a broader take, check out this excellent take: http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Truck-That-Went/dp/1137278978 That said, according to our sources -- about a dozen current and former Red Cross employees -- and a bunch of internal documents, many of these problems were of the Red Cross' own making. Sometimes it was basic issues…

Do you why it was the ARC who went to Haiti instead of the IFRC?

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#197

Post by reagency »

cmsmith wrote: post #140
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not as much as you'd think. Haiti doesn't have goods for ready cash. Most of the relief issue was shipping goods into the country where needed.

And what happens to the local farmers and roofers when you start shipping in goods and handing them out for free? They have a few more bags of rice but are out of business, and dependent on the next aid shipment for their other necessities. If you want to ship goods, then ship them to the harbor and sell them to local truck drivers for slightly more than the locally produced equivalent.

Roofers install roofs, they'd love more free raw materials.

I don't think Post-quake Haiti had a surplus of unsold consumer goods.

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#198

Post by reagency »

cdnsteve wrote: post #29
Gupie wrote: post #8

$500M sound like a large sum. It is if that is you personal wealth. However for Haiti with a population of over 10M it is only $50 per head. According to the article the Red Cross built shelters for 130,000 people. The would be $384 per shelter if that was all the Red Cross did. But they also fed people, provided clean water, medical aid... It is easy to attack big charities. You get support from people who feel guil…

If you had $500M, the best move for the community would be to create a Hati community long term investment of 100M. The community gets the dividends/interest from the investments. Long term sustainability is automatically achieved. That's free money over the long term for clean water projects, community buildings, etc. Did Red Cross do that? Nope, people got tents and pocketed the rest.

Money doesn't build houses. People build houses. If they needed paper, the Haitian govt could just hand that out.

Re: In Search of the Red Cross' $500M in Haiti Relief

#199

Post by reagency »

mturmon wrote: post #128
orbitingpluto wrote: post #88

My antecdote about corruption in Haiti. Went to a friend's wedding in 2007. One of the guests worked at CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). I asked the guest as many questions as I could. There was a preliminary research trip before a Canadian official made her visit to Haiti. The purpose? To geolocate and photograph the facilities. And when I say facilities, think toilets. Making sure the white Canadia…

About the difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the regionally-unique levels of poverty in Haiti: I think this can be traced historically to the Haitian slave revolt of 1791-1804, and the resulting shock and revenge taken on Haiti by the U.S., France, and other powers. Such action-at-a-distance may seem fanciful, but here's a surprising fact: Haiti was still paying reparations to France until 1947,…

Indeed. The US and Europe owes Haiti billions, but the real challenge is in getting a stable nation in place so USA and Europe can pay the reparations usefully.
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