[hullexile]

Originally Posted by Football16

A. United Way of the Lower Mainland has one of the lowest fundraising costs in the country. In fact, 89 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to over 400 United Way supported programs and services! ....The Endowment Fund helps offset already low fundraising costs and ensures 89 cents of every donated dollar is used to support programs in our community.

But you are not comparing like with like. Something like the Red Cross operates internationally and has to be ready to intervene anywhere at a moment's notice. This requires significant infrastructure that something like UNLW would not require. It is therefore unrealistic to expect the Red Cross to operate on the same percentage of costs. Money spent on infrastructure and salaries might in the long run be more effective so is a valuable way of using the money.

[climber07]

Originally Posted by hullexile

But you are not comparing like with like. Something like the Red Cross operates internationally and has to be ready to intervene anywhere at a moment's notice. This requires significant infrastructure that something like UNLW would not require. It is therefore unrealistic to expect the Red Cross to operate on the same percentage of costs. Money spent on infrastructure and salaries might in the long run be more effective so is a valuable way of using the money.

My problem with donating to large charities is not even necessarily with the high operating costs, it's the fact that you have no say what is done with your money ...the charity decides that for you. So as an example, American Red Cross came under heavy fire in late 2001 after they initially announced that out of $550 million they raised in their Liberty fund to help families of 9/11 victims, $200 million were going to be used for other purposes. (They reversed their decision at a later time after enormous amount of pressure). The lack of externally audited accounting also bothers me with many of these charities...How much money was missing from the 2004 Tsunami relief??? Not to mention the amount of fraud that occurs through various levels of bureaucracies in local governments and within large charitable organizations.

Thus, as some stated earlier, I chose to contribute my money to smaller groups or directly to the source, where I can see near term impact.

[hdinh]

This came from a really good friend of mine...

Avaaz are an international action and pressure group who have worked on various issues such as Doha climate conference and more. They have a programme to donate via an internal Monks support network to get money directly to the people and I have given this way:

"Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges--they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort--housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls."

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/15.php

[Football16]

Originally Posted by hullexile

But you are not comparing like with like. Something like the Red Cross operates internationally and has to be ready to intervene anywhere at a moment's notice. This requires significant infrastructure that something like UNLW would not require. It is therefore unrealistic to expect the Red Cross to operate on the same percentage of costs. Money spent on infrastructure and salaries might in the long run be more effective so is a valuable way of using the money.

The Red Cross do have similar concerns and similar FAQs for donors - I just posted another organization's FAQ.

They all segment the costs of running the organization (infrastructure that is ongoing)from fundraising and the costs of those activities. While I didn't suggest that a local United Way should be the admin cost benchmark for an international organization it seems the Red Cross do pretty good with their admin. cost ratio.

To answer someone else's point about getting money for one event and not using it was a nightmare they now say won't happen again.

All these things harm their donor relations both corporate and individual. The Red Cross (ICRC) have a similar statement on their site:

Q. Where can I find out about the cost of the ICRC’s work and how it’s financed?

A. Please see our Where does your money go? and Finances and budget sections. You can also read our latest Annual Report online.


Q. Where does my money go?

A. The ICRC promises to use your entire donation for the operation you choose. We calculate that the cost of providing headquarters support to our field delegations equals 6.5% of what the delegations spend themselves.

In other words, if you give 50 Swiss francs, 46.75 francs will be used directly to finance our operations protecting and helping the victims of armed conflict, on the ground.

While this has no effect on where your donation goes, you may be interested to know that administrative costs accounted for 10.9% of the ICRC’s 2004 budget. This figure was calculated using US tax and accounting standards applicable to international and non-governmental organizations.

The expenditure of the following units is counted as purely administrative, i.e. as having no direct link to operations: presidency, directorate, human resources, fundraising, finance/administration, archives and IT. For more information, please see our Where does your money go ? section.


Q. How can I make sure my donation benefits the ICRC as much as possible? Can I specify the country, region or village where my donation is used?

A. The ICRC promises to use your donation for the operation you choose. To help you make your choice, we provide a list of those countries where the ICRC is conducting its principal activities during the current year and for which we still need funds. However, we cannot accept donations for a specific school, village or group of individuals. Your donation will help to meet all the needs in the conflict zone specified, but you can only choose a country or a type of activity. Experience has shown that more restrictive “earmarking” of donations (tying them to a region, a programme, a project, a category of person, etc.) limits the ICRC’s ability to operate flexibly and that this harms the people we are trying to help. In addition, over-specific earmarking involves additional administration.

Our donation forms therefore give you the option of choosing one country or type of activity.

[hdinh]

"http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20020107a.asp"
However, if you've ever found it difficult to figure out exactly how the organizations that solicit support are using your funds, you're not alone. Seventy percent of the people surveyed by the Council of Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance ("www.give.org/") said it was hard to know if a charity is legitimate and operates ethically.

Check out the above links for information regarding reputable charities...

[amseiko98]

There are some small organisations that manage to give 100% to the projects they support. E.g. The Starfish Project Cambodia

It's a bit off-topic, because it wont help anyone in China, but they help individual cases in Cambodia. They cover their overheads by running a profit making coffee shop / bakery.

[hdinh]

For those who wish to donate to Sichuan, the HK Bank Foundation will match dollar for dollar the amount that you donate. Please see below for details:

The Hong Kong Bank Foundation is going to match the donations received from the public, i.e. if you donate HK$100.- ; HK Bank Foundation will also donate HK$100.-; the Red Cross will get HK$200. All funds collected will be transferred to the Hong Kong branch of the Red Cross Society of China.

If you wish to donate money on your own, below are the details.
Account name: HSBC China Earthquake Relief
Account number: 808-459085-001
(HKB Foundation will match donations up to a maximum total sum of RMB4 million)

Hong Kong HSBC account holders can use Internet banking, ATM and telephone banking to transfer money into the account or they can use the branch teller service. You are encouraged to use non-branch teller services for donations.
For international TT transfers, please state beneficiary bank name and address as HSBC Hong Kong, 1 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong. Their SWIFT code is HSBCHKHHHKH and the optional bank code is 004.

Donation receipt request form -http://staffonline.hk.hsbc/apps/csr/newsdetails.nsf/ByName/china_earthquake_form/$file/receipt_claim_form_china.pdf

If you require a receipt :
For Hong Kong donors - Individual contributions of HKD100 or above are tax deductible. Please mail the printout of your internal transfer confirmation page or your original payment slip as well as a completed claim form to Level 23, HSBC Main Building, 1 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong (Attention: Corporate Sustainability, Asia Pacific Region). Please mark on your envelope - 'REQUEST for Receipt - HSBC China Earthquake Relief'. Your request will be passed on to the Hong Kong Red Cross for receipt issuance when the campaign comes to an end.

[hdinh]

The following figures came through from our office admin. department. The Ming Pao Newspaper published the following figures (orginally in Chinese) outlining the administration fee comparisons of the various charity organizations. Please see below if you are interested.

*Appologies, I had to break the table up to so that it could fit in the geoexpat web format.

Take what you will from these statistics. These are the only figures presented. It is worth noting that if they all happen to be of similar size, then the company which only needs 1% of a large sum may actually, in the end have higher admin fees than one which may take a higher percentage of a smaller lump sum. Either way, the below figures are interesting to note never the less.

A = 2006/2007 Percentage taken from Donations used as Administration Fee
B = Donations Received for Sichuan Earthquake up to 19 May 2008 (HK$)

Oxfam
A = 19%
B =21,500,000

Medecins Sans Frontieres
A = 13%
B = No figures available due to donations were lodged into their head office account

UNICEF HK
A = 7%
B =17,000,000

World Vision HK
A = 5.6%
B = 55,000,000

Salvation Army
A = 2.5%
B =9,000,000

Red Cross HK
A = 1.11%
B = Over 2.5 billion