[bagboy]

Originally Posted by CFrance

In recent years, the Red Cross' fundraising expenses alone have been as high as 26 cents of every donated dollar, nearly three times the nine cents in overhead claimed by their CEO. In the past five years, fundraising expenses have averaged 17 cents per donated dollar. (I did not bold those words.)

Here is an easy-to-read comparison chart of five charities from charitynavigator.org.
Charity Navigator - Compare Charities
You can check many charities on this site.

I think the Red Cross is an important organization for the collection of blood. I give them blood but put my charitable dollars elsewhere. For instance, 98.5% of AmeriCare's funds reach the intended recipients, has a 5-star rating (American Red Cross=3 star) and an overall score of 97.23 out of 100, as opposed to Red Cross 89.33.

BTW, I used to be a big supporter of Oxfam for international support, but it has fallen to a three-star rating. It's good to keep checking back.

I got that 90% expense figure from the website CN you linked. Seriously, am I missing something?