Tis the Season

It's the holiday season once again. This means for most people that they will be buying gifts, putting up lights and decorations, and getting ready to host friends and family or getting ready to go to friends and families homes. Another important part of the holiday season, that is often forgotten, is giving to others. People often contribute by giving to chartitible donations. That sounds great and all, but what if I told you that a rediculously small percent of the money you donate acually goes to the cause in some of the most popular and wellknown charities?

A lot of cheritable donations have great commericals and ads that say that if you donate to their organization, your money will go to some great cause, and for a lot of organizations, this is true. For others though, some of their ads are a bit misleading. Take UNICEF for example, only 4.4 cents of every dollar you give goes to the acual cause.

Some people may argue that the reason for so little of the money going to the cause is because the charity has to pay for shipping of goods and other expenses, which is fine. My question is though, as the presedent or founder of a charity, shouldn't you start a charity to help others, not too make money? Aparently some people forget this because people like Marsha J. Evans, who is the President and CEO of the American Red Cross, makes a salary of $951,957. Another person that makes a large some money every year is the United Way President, Brian Gallagher. He makes a base salary of $675,000 plus numerous expense benefits. And last but not least, my personal favorite, Caryl M. Stern. She is the CEO of UNICEF. She make a salary of $1,900,000 a year plus all expenses including Rolls Royce. Makes you think twice before you donate to any charity, right?

In my opinion, if you want too donate to anyone this season, you should donate to organizations such as America Legion, Veterans of Forein Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of Purple Hearts, or Vietnam Veterans Assocication. All of these charitable donations give 100% of every dollar to their causes, and on top of that, each National Commander earns a salary of $0.00 a year.

I'm not saying that the organizations that don't give %100 of every dollar are evil. All I'm saying is that if you want to donate money for others in need and know that all of your money will go directly to the cause, than I would do some research on where your donating first.