OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN GENERAL
"Don't Donate to The Red Cross?"
"I Want a complete Investigation on All Donations Recieved By The Red Cross for the Houston-Hurricane Harvey! "I have witnessed first hand their dirty money operations at the time of Hurricane Katrina!" Said, Bishop L. J. Guillory, Ombudsman General to National Ombudsman and Ombudsman International`
I was there and I Stood Up to the Red Cross and ask how they spent the money Donated for the people who suffered in Hurricane Katrina?
Red Cross Scams Victims of Hurricane Katrina!
The Red Cross seem to have not learned from Katrina and the heat over its handling and channeling of funds. A highly critical Los Angeles Times article (“The Red Cross Money Pit,” Richard M. Walden) makes several damning points: that the Red Cross received 70 percent of Katrina funds; it is reimbursed for shelters, food, etc. by the federal government; it relies overwhelmingly on unpaid volunteers; and it spends over $111 million a year in fund raising. Quoting Walden, “The Red Cross expects to raise more than $2 billion before Hurricane Katrina-related giving subsides. If it takes care of 300,000 people, that’s $7,000 per victim. I doubt each victim under Red Cross care will see more than a doughnut, an interview with a social worker and a short-term voucher for a cheap motel, with a few miscellaneous items such as clothes and cooking pots thrown in.” In addition, it sells donated blood for around $1.5 billion annually. His obvious question is, “Where does the money go?”
The Ombudsman Press News once reported that the Red Cross was undergoing an internal investigation to examine reports of improper use of funds and goods that could total in the millions of dollars. At the time Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. also launched his own investigation after learning of the Red Cross inquiry. Two supervisors were fired in late March 2006 as part of an internal Red Cross inquiry into the improper handling of relief supplies.
The American Red Cross spent a quarter of the money people donated after the 2010 Haiti earthquake — or almost $125 million — on its own internal expenses, far more than the charity previously had disclosed, according to a report released Thursday by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. The report also says the charity's top officials stonewalled congressional investigators and released incomplete information about its Haiti program to the public. It concludes "there are substantial and fundamental concerns about [the Red Cross] as an organization."
The Red Cross Didn't Explain How Money Was Spent
In general, the Red Cross itself doesn't know how much money it spent on each project in Haiti because of a "complex, yet inaccurate" accounting system, the report found.
The report echoes the confidential findings of consultants hired by the Red Cross, which previously were reported by NPR and ProPublica. One internal evaluation of one of the group's water and sanitation projects found there was "no correct process for monitoring project spending." Another assessment found that the group's figures on how many people were helped by a hygiene project were "fairly meaningless."
Documents provided by the Red Cross suggest that the charity sometimes spent large sums of money on management costs even when it enlisted other organizations to run relief operations.In 2010, the American Red Cross wrote a check for $4.3 million to its sister organization the International Federation of the Red Cross for disaster preparedness work. On top of the $4.3 million, according to budget figures the charity provided to Grassley, the American Red Cross spent another $2 million on its own to manage the grant. That's after it already took out hundreds of thousands of dollars in administrative fees.
Partners like the IFRC typically take out their own overhead and administrative costs before using the money to help Haitians.
When asked what the $2 million was used for, the Red Cross said it covered the costs "incurred to ensure accountability, monitoring and evaluation of work performed and ensure our partners meet their contractual requirements."
"It's sort of a shocking amount of money," said Jake Johnston, a research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, who has spent years digging into the Red Cross' finances. "Maybe a little bit more than half that ends up going to a project."
NPR IS ASKING MY SAME QUESTIONS
Some NPR listeners and readers have asked why NPR pressed Red Cross operations and logistics executive Brad Kieserman about how much of the money his organization receives will actually be spent on helping those affected by Hurricane Harvey. NPR's questions were follow-ups to several years of reporting by NPR and ProPublica about shortcomings in the organization's disaster relief operations and misleading claims about its finances. NPR has asked several times in recent years to speak with Red Cross President and CEO Gail J. McGovern. Those requests have been turned down. Prior to this latest interview, NPR asked again. The organization said McGovern was unavailable, but did make Kieserman available.
