Charitable Spendthrifts?

According to the Washington Post, two-thirds of Katrina donations have been exhausted, begging the question, what happened with all that money?

According to the story:

Two-thirds of the $3.27 billion raised by private nonprofit organizations and tracked by The Post went to help evacuees and other Katrina victims with immediate needs -- cash, food and temporary shelter, medical care, tarps for damaged homes and school supplies for displaced children. Fine, but the other factiods make me question the efficacy of groups like the Red Cross:

The American Red Cross, which was criticized for slow distribution of donations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has given out 84 percent of its Katrina and Rita donations.

50 cents of each donated dollar went out in cash to victims.

snip

56 percent of remaining donations are controlled by faith-based organizations. They include such well-known institutions as Catholic Charities USA and the Salvation Army but also such lower-profile groups as the United Methodist Committee on Relief and United Jewish Communities.

While charities have done fabulous work helping storm ravaged communities I question the effectiveness of cash donations. At the same time, I question the manner in which charities manage their contributed funds.

The story is quite long and very informative.