In the meantime - the Red Cross is busy counting its money because compensation for its regional directors is based on how much lucre is raised in their individual parts of the country, and no money can be earmarked until the salary portion is first deducted....and that can't be determined until all the money is collected and counted. And of course, the amount of money sent out must be totaled so that a bill for the services can be sent to the proper governmental agencies.
Naturally, a portion of all contributions to charitable organizations goes toward administrative costs - and if I were doing compensation for regional directors, dollars raised would be a big factor. Again, it is standard practice for relief type organizations to prime the pump with on-hand dollars then repay themselves as funds are accumulated and tallied.
The Red Cross should be commended for whatever they can do in regards to invoicing governmental organizations for financial reimbursement; every dollar they can recoup is a dollar available to start the cash flow for the next crises.
Cash is fungible - it is naive to think that there is some special system that will ensure that your gift will do directly to the intended cause - your gift will go into the accounting system that pays for relief efforts at hand.
I spent many hours when on the board of ICT (International City Theatre, Long Beach CA) coaxing some major donors to give us "unrestricted gifts" that would, in fact, pay for the organization's overhead. When I was successful, I could put out fund-raising pleas that would promise that "every dollar you donate" will go toward children's education. In order to appease potential donors you also had to keep the ratio of fundraising expenses to funds raised at a low number. This was of course silly! It is better to spend $50,000 to raise $100,000 (a 50% admin charge) than it is to spend $1000 to raise $10,000 (a low 10% admin charge). Naturally we all had clever accounting tricks to "help" the numbers: hold a charity dinner for 50 that costs you $45/plate for food and $5/plate for mailing, printing, advertising, etc - charge $100 head and you net $2,500 (a 50% event that looks really bad on the books; get a deep pocket donor to "donate the dinner" and you end up with an event that cost $250 to net $2,500 (a 10% event, not too shabby); get the printer to contribute all his costs and a publisher to give you free ad space and you end up with $25 in mailing costs to raise $2,500 (a 1% event - you are a hero!) The real trick to fund raising is to host very elaborate (and expensive) galas that will attract an affluent crowd that you can milk with auctions.
der Brucer
