挪用捐款? 红十字会还值得相信吗?

红十字会与红新月会是当今世界最富盛名的两大慈善机构，每当人们限于自然灾害或是战火困境之时，我们总能看见他们的身影。但是现在红十字会的声誉却遭到了接连的损害，关于红十字会挪用捐款的负面消息也是层出不穷。究竟我们还能相信红十字会吗？

911. Donations came pouring into the Red Cross Liberty Disaster Fund. When the public learned the Red Cross planned to divert victim funds for other purposes, there was outrage, forcing a change of plans.

"Regrettably, it took us some time, somewhat longer, than I think probably it should have to address that credibility gap."

Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross was blaimed for poor coordination of relief efforts.

"The Red Cross is not coming through like they are supposed to."

At local Red Cross chapters, there have been cases of embezzlement. Two years ago, the Red Cross had to turn to Congress for a $100 million infusion after its emergency fund was depleted.

"American philanthropy is built on trust, and it you undermine that trust, you don't just jeopardize the Red Cross, you jeopardize the whole infrastructure of philanthropy and charity in the United States."

So far, the Red Cross has raised more than $203 million for Haiti and spent or committed $67 million--$53 million for food and water, $12 million for shelter, $2 million for health and family services. These figures include the cost of coordination, transportation and distribution.

"So you can assure us right now that every dollar raised for Haiti will go to Haiti."
"91 cents of every dollar that we raise. We have a bit of overhead. But 91 cents of every dollar we raise for Haiti will go to Haiti."
"That 9 cents, that's for what?"
"That's for general operations, overhead, pays the salaries, keeps the lights on, ect."

That efficiency measured does rank with other top relief groups. To get there, the Red Cross has been cutting expenses. The government has imposed a salary freeze and employees, no longer get a 401(k) match from the Red Cross. No matter how efficient the operation, getting aid to Haiti is expensive, as we saw from some of the noNPRofits' accounting.

"In Gibraltar, you purchased 10 Toyota Land Cruisers at a cost of $415,000. Ok, so, pretty pricy, another 41,000 bucks each. But that's what you got to pay."
"Well, an SUV, that's what they cost. I don't know if you've been to Haiti, but it's a very tough countryside."
"They've got to be loaded."
"You've got to be loaded. You've got to have very heavy extra tires. So actually I think that's not so bad."

Expensive as the operation may be, the Red Cross says it's making sure the money goes exactly where it should, placing auditors on the ground in Haiti.

"There are desperate people there. Isn't there a great opportunity for fraud?"
"Fraud is certainly at the top of our minds. It's not just the obligation I have to may donors. It's the obligation I have to the people of Haiti. I don't want our dollars of assistance ending up in sticky fingers, if you will. I want it to get to the people who need it."

Red Cross is filled with very hard-working committed people who are doing their best to make sure that your donations indeed go to the people of Haiti. But for all its efforts, the Red Cross is still not rated four stars by Charity Navigator; it's a three-star charity. And Charity Navigator says that's because the Red Cross doesn't have a very big financial cushion. Red Cross has a debt of $600 million--100 million of that is due this year.