In case you want to take a look at your favorite charity, here's Charity Navigator's website:
I don’t give to grocery store charities or at WalMart. ESPECIALLY TO SGK Foundation!
I never donate money to charities. When I’m solicited, I simply reply that I donate to my own choice of charities. We donate clothes, canned goods, and our personal time. I’ve worked for years at soup kitchens and provided free-of-charge technical support and enterprise-level configuration assistance to several local charities. Money never ends up in the right hands.
I don’t give a dime to anyone. Charity begins at HOME - so it’s LOCAL volunteer work for me. (Library, Food Pantry, our Firemen and EMTs, etc.)
I will concede that there is a possibility that CEOs who do a extraordinary job of organizing and allocating resources in an extraordinarily efficient manner might actually be worth an annual salary in the mid six figures. But the odds are against it.
Too bad more folks don’t check out all these well known “charities” since a lot of them are pretty charitable to the head cheeses. The perceived intended recipients, not so much. We usually take items to the St. Vincents thrift store but seldom cash. Some seem downright scams when you actually look at the operating costs and percentage of donations that end up being distributed.
The issue of what the head of a not-for-profit makes is a valid question, and doesn’t have a good answer.
Over in the Catholic Church, it’s pretty clear that the clergy are to be paid modesty or even totally subsistent on the church (there’s a difference between ordinary priests and those in special orders). However, it was a long time ago that the church condemned making this a condition of salvation. I haven’t read the recent encyclical in its entirety, but from what I have read it seems to revive the argument that at one time was determined to be heretical.
In many of the Protestant churches and in the Jewish religion, compensation is a matter of negotiation between boards of governors of the congregation and the minister. Being a minister is a job as well as a calling. A guideline might be that the minister be compensated in proportion to what other, comparable professionals are paid. For example, a policeman. Or maybe doctors and lawyers if the members of your church are doing well.
Shifting over to non-religious charities and not-for-profits and government, things get a lot more hairy. What moral authority should the President have when he and his family live like royalty? Shouldn’t there be some expectation that they live within the means of, let’s say, professionals such as doctors and lawyers, who make a lot, and not like corporate presidents, professional baseball players and oil sheiks?
So, here is my bottom-line: when the people at the charity (so-called) make more than I make, I don’t give to them. I figure they don’t need my money. Let them raise their money from the rich people they associate with. I think the same rule should apply to government. They should only tax people who make what they make.
I never consider donating to nonChristian charities. That said, if an organization is really large such as Red Cross (not advocating) you need a highly capable person in charge. They don’t come cheap. Reminds me of how every Republican president (not Dems) is criticized for having a cabinet of millionaires as though cabbies could run a multibillion dollar bureaucracy. It would be irresponsible to put somebody in charge of a multimillion $ enterprise who is not qualified.
scam charities are sadly quite common. for the unethical, it’s an easy way to make a buck.
http://www.tampabay.com/americas-worst-charities/
I give nothing to nobody. Not a single entity has shown they deserve my money and are not just using “charity” as a means to profit.
Take Wounded Warriors for instance. They give to a small number of wounded warriors then run ad after ad showing it but they won’t take money from “Christian” or “Firearm” organizations. They are an extremely liberal bunch profiting on the image of wounded warriors.
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) in Colorado fired the Director and Transportation Manager, both my neighbors, and replaced them with illegal aliens. They also used illegal aliens as drivers of their trucks.
Not a single charity now picks up large furniture like a sofa. Everything must be small items. The needy are now choosers. They also do not go so much as 3 miles outside city limits anymore. I guess when you are needy the charity offering must only be convenient.
Red Cross. When we had fires in Colorado there were people setting up water and coffee tents for free. Local organization and private persons gave as much as they could and it was good to see. The Red Cross came in and charged (high prices too!) for everything. Meanwhile their CEO, Bob Dole’s wife was one, only takes limos and private jets around. I don’t give to an organization that can afford limos and private jets.
Churches? Don’t even get me started. Again, I don’t to organizations where the heads of them drive better cars than I do.