Why Texting Donations Can Take Weeks

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For people that have used their cell phones to donate money to the people of Haiti, here is an explanation why the money wont get there for 30 – 90 days.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CNN, and users of Twitter Inc. have urged people to punch 90999 and then type in the word "HAITI" on their phones to send $10 to the American Red Cross. But the money won't be routed from most U.S. wireless carriers to relief efforts until cellphone users pay their phone bills.
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**edited**

I don't feel like arguing with you guys about this. I say let em rot till tey had enough and stage a revolt, then help them out with guns.

The gov over there is more corupt than any Illinois govenor.
 
Fharakin said:
**edited**

I don't feel like arguing with you guys about this. I say let em rot till tey had enough and stage a revolt, then help them out with guns.

The gov over there is more corupt than any Illinois govenor.
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How did you edit in front page news?!
 
You type a huge long post about cell carriers and the Haitian goverment and how much they are alike and then realize half of you wont read it, half of you will ask for citations, and the last half will call me names

/cheekymonkey'd
 
JUSTJOEL73 said:
I don't know how many of you have heard but DO NOT SEND MONEY to Yele Haiti-the charity operated and looted by Wyclef. The Smoking Gun has evidence that Wyclef has been taking money from his own charity to pay himself.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0114102wyclef1.html

Send your money to the Red Cross instead. Paying himself $100,000 to perform from his own charity is unforgivable.
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Yeah, he is totally a scumbag. The best part is that tons of his fans are defending him, even though the the records are there for any one to see and clearly he is skimming off the top. Reminds me of that R. Kelly Boondocks episode.
 
I also wouldn't be surprised if the cell phone companies like to hold on to that money a little longer for the sake of generating interest.
 
negated said:
Yeah, he is totally a scumbag. The best part is that tons of his fans are defending him, even though the the records are there for any one to see and clearly he is skimming off the top. Reminds me of that R. Kelly Boondocks episode.
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The worst thing is that we can only see the what he has done with money for the 3 years Yele filed tax returns. What happened with the $3 million they got for the Angelina Jolie baby pictures? Stolen as well I bet. They didn't file for that year or the other years.
 
That's horrible what Wyclef is doing, ass. And with the cellphone companies, alot of that money probably won't leave their greedy pockets. It's a shame that in times of need, greed is still present.
 
If I had no other job but running a charity it is ok for me to take a salary, but if I do it as a side project because I have a real job and plenty of money I am not allowed to take a salary from the charity?

Or is it because what Wyclef is taking form the charity seems excessive in dollar amount?

If he took 20k for administrative purposes would that be ok? How is it any different than PETA paying whatever celebrity $100k to advertise their charity?

I guess I am confused. If you want to help, go and help, sending a donation of cash that may or may not get there and whining about how charities work is only an American "feel good" tactic.

I bet charitable donations would fall dramatically if there wasn't a tax incentive to do so.
 
Fharakin said:
If I had no other job but running a charity it is ok for me to take a salary, but if I do it as a side project because I have a real job and plenty of money I am not allowed to take a salary from the charity?

Or is it because what Wyclef is taking form the charity seems excessive in dollar amount?

If he took 20k for administrative purposes would that be ok? How is it any different than PETA paying whatever celebrity $100k to advertise their charity?

I guess I am confused. If you want to help, go and help, sending a donation of cash that may or may not get there and whining about how charities work is only an American "feel good" tactic.

I bet charitable donations would fall dramatically if there wasn't a tax incentive to do so.
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That's funny, I never knew PETA pays their celebs for appearances.

If you look at the 2006 tax return filed, they had

$1.1 million in income
$1 million in expenditures

of the $1 million in spending only $324,500 went to went to helping the Haitian people.

The rest went to the charity's expenses like

$140,000 consultancy fee (paid to Wyclef's friends and family)
$100,000 concert performance fee (paid to Wyclef)
$157,000 travel(for his 1st class travel all over the world)
$224,000 promotion/PR (to his own media company)
 
I get it, I was just playing Devil's advocate because I am bored at work. I guess the point I was trying to make is charities only exist as a tax break. Wyclef embodies that, as do plenty of others.

This makes my point:

Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross... salary for year ending 06/30/03 was $651,957 plus expenses.

Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way receives a $375,000 base salary, plus numerous expense benefits.

The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing)

Wyclef isn't the only guy out there doing it......
 
Thanks for posting this article.

Once place to check charities out is charitynavigator.org. They are like the "resellerratings" of charities.

The day the earthquakes hit I went online to world vision and gave- I have a 8 month old and thinking about kids down there hit in all the right places.

About 86.7 percent of World Vision's money gets used "on the field" (according to external sources), so I regularly support them and feel confident in doing so. It just sounds like the texting thing hass too many ways to get messed up.
 
It would not suprise me if the banks tied it up for a month just so they could make interest off it before finally handing it over.
 
"In 2008, Yele Haiti spent $138,000 on disaster relief and $140,000 on food distribution, compared with $460,000 on two outdoor concerts to promote the arts and culture, according to the tax filings."

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/18/news/international/wyclef_haiti/index.htm

Although what Wyclef is not doing anything illegal, I think it is immoral. It looks like only 30% of money going to Yele actually goes the Haitian people unless you think the Haitian people want concerts instead of food.
 
Why Earmarking is Bad

When you make a donation to an organization, resist the urge to check that “apply these funds to X-event” box. The organization receiving your money has already invested many thousands of dollars prepping for the next disaster, and those batteries, and cell phones, bottles of water, blankets, etc. that are now being distributed wasn’t paid for out of the X-event fund. After X-event is over, they’re going to need to replenish the supplies and gear to prepare for the next disaster.

Forcing the organization to spend money on a given operation leads to irrational spending and waste.
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Doing the Right Thing
 
WRONG! Places like the Red Cross use the amount counted in text messages as a form of collateral. Sending $10 via text instantly tells the Red Cross that they can go ahead borrow from their operations fund to pay for operations in Haiti.
 
I'm all for donating to Haiti but giving your hard earned money to the fraud filled Red Cross is not a good idea unless of course you don't want most or any of it go to help the Haitian's.
 
If you ever want to see your whole $10 go to the Haitian people, book a plane, fly yourself down there and start handing out US currency YOURSELF. Otherwise, they'll never see more than a buck out of that $10.
 
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