The easiest way to save three lives: the Red Cross

The American Red Cross “is the nation’s largest blood collection organization, supplying more than 40 percent of the blood and blood products used in our country.”

Giving blood with the Red Cross is the easiest way to save someone’s life! Every year 4 million people give 6.5 million units of blood to those who need it. Giving blood helps accident victims, cancer patients, surgical candidates, and children with blood disorders. 

If you want to give blood there are a few things you’ll need to do before you do so.

1. Hydrate: you’ll want to be fully hydrated so there is less of a chance to pass out or get sick during the process
2. Wear something comfortable: Wear clothing with sleeves that can easily be rolled up above the elbow.
3. Maintain a healthy amount of iron before donating: include iron rich foods in your diet before donating

On the day of your donation:

1. Bring an ID!
2. Bring a friend!
3. Relax!

There are countless stories on the Red Cross website telling of how they saved someone or were saved themself. One woman writes, “When our infant son was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and rushed to intensive care, he needed blood during open-heart surgery. He couldn’t have survived without that blood supply. Many thoughts went through my mind those weeks in the hospital with him, and one of them was how grateful I am to those who donated blood and how much I’d previously taken the supply of it for granted. He is now six years old and, after two more reconstructive surgeries, is doing well and enjoying life. I now donate blood regularly, knowing the supply is not guaranteed, and that it is one way I can do something meaningful in life.”

If you want to learn more about giving blood and saving someone’s life check out The American Red Cross! There is a donation center close to you! 

What about you? Have you ever given blood? Have you ever considered giving blood?

One of the most effective nonprofits, charity:water

Charity:water believes that water changes everything.

Perhaps one of the most successful and trustworthy charities is charity:water. Charity:water deals with delivering clean water to communities in Africa. 90% of the 300,000 deaths of children under the age of five per week occur because of unsafe and dirty water.

 Charity:water is extremely effective because 100% of public donations go directly to clean water projects. You may ask yourself how can charity:water can operate when all of the public donations are given away.

The founder of this charity was sick of nonprofit organizations taking advantage of the donors and decided to do something different. There is a private board of investors that pay the employees and keep the website updated, which is how the charity affords to give every single cent of their donation away. 

If you want to help charity water, you can give or even buy a product from them. Once again, 100% of the profits go directly towards clean water wells in Africa. 

Have you ever heard of Charity:Water? What do you think about the charity giving away 100% of the donations? 

 

The scandal behind World Vision

World Vision is an internationally known nonprofit. This particular organization aides in transforming communities through child sponsorship. 

In June 2009, World Vision was caught in the middle of a fraud case in Liberia. Three former employees were accused of stealing food and materials intended for helping people recovering from the civil war, and then sold the products for profits in local markets. 

Not only did corruption occur in foreign countries, but dishonesty is prevalent here in America. A commentor on a Wolrd Vision Storycommenter adds, “I used to work for World Vision…in fundraising actually I got to personally keep 75% of everything I collected from my donors as my ‘salary,’ It is interesting why people fundraising for people in need get to keep such a large percentage of the donation. 

Another interesting aspect of this nonprofit is to see how much the CEO makes a year. According to Charity Navigator, the CEO of World Vision makes nearly $380,000 a year. This is quite a large amount of money for someone who is devoted to serving others with their life. 

Although not all aspects of World Vision are corrupt, it is crucial tor recognize that not all aspects of World Vision are truthful. Before you write that next check for your sponsor child, check up with World Vision. Make sure that the child is getting the money and education they deserves.

So what about you? Have you heard of World Vision or their scandals before? Have you ever sponsored a child with them?

Is your money really going to the needy?

With so many problems in the world, like the problem of unclean water shown in the video, they can often be overwhelming. Thankfully, there are organizations that aide in modern day problems such as unclean water, sex trafficking, slave trade and homelessness.

Although there are people to help those less fortunate, there are people on the other side of the spectrum who are in the business for themselves. Most people have heard about Invisible Children and the controversy that followed the film. Through the following weeks I will be sharing information about non-profit organizations that do their best with the funds given and organizations that could be considered corrupt.

An easy way to check out if the charity is legitimate or not is to check out the website Charity Navigator. This site tells you if the money you give is actually going to the place where the charity says it will go. It is crucial that we are conscious consumers and givers because quite often we give and are not entirely sure where the money goes.

What about you? Have you ever been burned by a charity? Have you ever given to a non-profit then found out that it was not legitimate?