As people have been expressing concern about American Red Cross, 
here's some comments. Sounds positive-ish.

As some refuse to access NYT sites I've extracted some content below.

        http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/05/international/worldspecial4/05relief.html?th


        RM
_____________________________

Amid the rush of generous donations to the disaster relief effort in 
southern Asia, more donors have insisted that their gifts go 
exclusively to help those victims, charities say, building on a trend 
seen after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"People are very emotional, and they want their money to help the 
people that they see in pictures and on TV," said Thomas Tighe, 
president and chief executive of Direct Relief International, which 
distributes free medicine, supplies and equipment in an effort to 
improve health care around the world. "They make it clear that this is 
not about tragedies that exist elsewhere in the world, and they're 
very skeptical about how charities use their money."

Charities have long prized the "unrestricted" gift, which allows the 
organization to spend it as it chooses. But ever since donors learned 
that the American Red Cross planned to set aside for other uses more 
than $200 million donated for families of the victims of the Sept. 11 
attacks, they have increasingly insisted on earmarking or restricting 
their gifts.
...
Devorah Goldburg, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said that since 
Dec. 26, when the organization saw a huge surge in donations, it has 
decided that all gifts to its International Response Fund will be 
spent for tsunami relief efforts. "So much money poured in that we 
knew it had to be intended for these victims," she said. "Also, when a 
lot of people donate, they write 'tsunami relief' or something like 
that on their checks."

Although the Red Cross has not been actively seeking donations, many 
companies are steering donors toward the group, and it has received 
pledges for $92 million. It has already allocated $25 million of that 
to buy food and $5 million to buy hygiene kits, tents and other 
supplies.
Ms. Goldburg said the rest would also go to this relief effort but 
that some of the money might be reserved for longer-term needs, like 
mental health counseling. She said no decision had been made on when 
the Red Cross would again distribute donations to its International 
Response Fund to other crises.
...

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