A Sign of the Times? Red Cross Is Laying People Off
Thursday January 17, 2008
The New York Times reported yesterday that the American Red Cross faces a $200 million shortfall and is planning to cut up to 1,000 of its work force.
The spokesperson for the charity was vague as to the reasons for the shortfall and the RIF saying, "...we are spending more than we are bringing in and...the fund-raising environment is competitive."
The blog, Don't Tell the Donor, says, "I'm willing to bet that this is not the first shoe to drop at the Red Cross or at other nonprofits facing similar pressure."
What do you think? Is this the harbinger of bad financial news for nonprofits?
Image by Stephen P. Hayes/Getty Images
Comments
Oh really! I wonder what happened to all the Hurricane Katrina donations. There should be a public audit of how the money was spent.
I am not surprised to hear news of the layoffs. Consider the salary the CEO gets. Alot of medium to large sized nonprofits have forgotten their mission, squandered donations in irrelevant projects, fail to collaborate with other nonprofits, become and maintain a meaningless vision over time. As a nurse I run a small nonprofit out of my studio apartment in NYC without a paid staff or office space. Everything I do is focused on patient care and education as realistically a cure for the disorder, dystonia, that I serve won’t occur in my lifetime. Let’s be realistic about science today. Yet nonprofits tout endlessly the Hope for a Cure about any disease. Hei- I just want to be able to cross the street and ride a bicycle. So, lets get real. Where is that cure for diabetes, cancer , AIDS that has been talked about for the past 20 years ? The diseases are still occuring as do Hurricanes. More often than not, some nonprofits are bought out by pharma, biotech companies in order t unsuspiciously sell-promote-market their products.
With the Red Cross, there has not been enough accountability and investment record keeping regarding given donations.
Time for nonprofits to change. Time for donors to ASK “Where and How is my money being used ?”. If the nonprofit can’t produce, you just gave to the wrong organization.
Alter and Avoid the Status Quo. It’s Time.
Thanks for the ideas. I also think that the Red Cross may be suffering after offering donors the ability to designate their gifts. That is not bad, unless too many people do it so that there is less money for operations.
I agree with both comments about the Red Cross. In regards to Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia, and the “cure” cause all have one thing in common, they each have a cloud of suspicion over them. “They give the appearance of not helping anyone but themselves.” I personally have been in a situation where a family member needed help from a non-profit. This widely known non-profit only gave printed information but their mission statement stated something else. The information that I received was the same information that I could have gotten off the Internet. What is so misleading is the fact that only a handful of widely known non-profits actually help Americans. There are several hundred non-profits from all over the world with offices in the United States that receive donations and bring all the money they make here and take it overseas. When the American economy is bad thats when many people seek out help from these non-profits and get the realization that they dont help anyone. That is where the dollars stop coming in. If you are a non-profit and you express your “MISSION STATEMENT” follow it! If your non-profit only lobbies congress than state it. This is to the extreme I know but I think those CEO’s should post on their websites a picture of their houses and the cars they drive so people can see how they are really living. Secondly, they should show on their balance statement so that they can show really where the money goes and to whom. I realize this will never happen but it really hurts and makes other legitimate non-profits having to work twice as hard just to get half as much as they do. Its very frustrating!
I think it is vital that these non-profits maintain communication with their constituencies. Without that information exchange, the non-profit organization is very likely to become yet another bloated and self-protective beauracy, totally losing touch with its client base and completely losing track of its mission.
The organizations that advocate for the disease I have, dystonia, have seemingly lost track of their original charges. They now seem more interested in collaboration with large pharmaceutical and biotech companies who continue to fund redundant research…touting their own products, of course.
A return to foundational values and a commitment to cooperation in order to maximize resources and eliminate redundancies is what, in my opinion, is needed to finally see some positive results. It is ridiculous to have organizations with identical mission statements competing for the same funds.
Thanks for all your good comments…it would seem that the Red Cross might not be seen any more as the iconic nonprofit that can do no harm.
100% of the donations to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief went to Katrina victim assistance, disaster relief efforts, and long-term recovery programs; and yes, the Red Cross is independently audited annually, and underwent an organization-wide Katrina audit as well.
The American Red Cross is one organization that keeps its mission and promise to the American people. How many other private nonprofit organization’s serve the entire nation?
The American Red Cross has been widely slandered by those who know little about the organization or who are jealous of its reach and connection to the American people. It is time that stopped. 91 cents out of every dollar given to the Red Cross goes directly to programs, and few organizations have such efficency and low overhead.
Congratulations to the American Red Cross for seeing the need to make changes at their headquarters, and taking active steps to do so. The American Red Cross knows its mission.
Perhaps then, next time that there is a disaster, people should just take care of their own problems and rescue themselves? The Red Cross does a LOT of excellent work and has many fine employees and caring volunteers a giving of their time and effort to help others. Those who complain need to remember when disaster strikes, the Red Cross is there when the government isn’t. Enough sniping about the Red Cross.
It’s amazing