Catholic Relief Services

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In response to the sponsor a child commercials I always see on tv, I went looking for a catholic sponsored equivalent charity. I found Catholic Relief Services. They have lots of interesting ways to help people out around the world, and it’s appealing to me.

The question is, are they on the up and up? I am skittish after finding out about the campaign for human development last year. Anyone have any reviews about CRS?

I like the programs they have for fund raisers in the parish. I’d like to try to get one of those going next year.
 
I’ve given to them for a number of years and have always felt that they do a very good job.
 
thomasf said:
In response to the sponsor a child commercials I always see on tv, I went looking for a catholic sponsored equivalent charity. I found Catholic Relief Services. They have lots of interesting ways to help people out around the world, and it’s appealing to me.

The question is, are they on the up and up? I am skittish after finding out about the campaign for human development last year. Anyone have any reviews about CRS?

I like the programs they have for fund raisers in the parish. I’d like to try to get one of those going next year.
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The Catholic Relief Services is an excellent charity favored by the Church.
 
Occasionally in certain dioceses CRS has made poor decisions, but overall they are a good charity.
 
CRS is a good Catholic charity, and like others have said some people within different branches of the organization has made choices that don’t agree with the Catholic faith but the organization as a whole is great.

But if you are specifically looking for a sponsor a child type organization, Food for the Poor is a good group for that.

Food for the Poor has a much lower “admin/fundraising” cost then the Christian Childrens Fund and unlike CCF Food for the Poor actually gives money to benifit the child directly. CCF only gives money to benifit the community.

See the following link for information on the child sponsorship program:
foodforthepoor.org/help/angelshope/

For info on the charity in general go here:
foodforthepoor.org/
 
The best child sponsorship program is this one:
cfcausa.org/aboutus/accountability.html%between%
Naturally, it’s a catholic one! About 89% of donations reach the sponsored child. That’s utterly unheard of among such programs (read the fine print!).

Years ago, I used to donate through Compassion International (non-denom protestant):
compassion.com/about/financial/default.htm
until I found out only 76% of funds reach the sponsored kid. That’s STILL considered good by the standards of a lot of charities out there.

CRS is awesome, but is so big that they have some internal problems. Right now they are embroiled in a scandal because they’ve been promoting condoms in Africa and trying to cover it up by keeping their name off the promo materials and insisting that it is “education, not promotion.” Sadly, their education fails to adequately cite the failed philosophy and morality that lies behind the condom promotion campaigns. I do think this is the result of a small number of people there and hopefully the bishops will soon step up and put things right. But it does get tiring dealing with the constantly mutinous crew of the Barque of Peter…
 
I had the opportunity to see the work of the Catholic relief services with people displaced from one country to another (Soviets moving to the USA trough Europe). At the time I was a CINO but I was still really impressed by the sense of solidarity among strangers.
 
According to the Better Business Bureau, Catholic Relief meets all 20 of the standards for accountability for charities and 94% of donations go to programs while 4% go towards fund-raising and 2% go to administration.
 
fhansen said:
According to the Better Business Bureau, Catholic Relief meets all 20 of the standards for accountability for charities and 94% of donations go to programs while 4% go towards fund-raising and 2% go to administration.
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Now, if they could just meet 100 percent accountability to the Magisterium…:rolleyes:
But, yes it’s overall a good organization. There are always a few rotten apples in every diocese-er, I mean basket.😉
 
Cracker_Mom said:
Now, if they could just meet 100 percent accountability to the Magisterium…:rolleyes:
But, yes it’s overall a good organization. There are always a few rotten apples in every diocese-er, I mean basket.😉
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Hi Cracker Mom, I am just wondering if you may have mixed up Catholic Relief Services with an other organization?
They mostly offer help in third world countries and people in those countries that are suffering from natural disasters etc.and are not usually active on a parish or diocese level.
If you could expand on why you think as you do I would appreciate it as I have supported them as I have supported them financially.
Please tell me how they are in opposition to Church Teaching.
 
Mike_Dye said:
Hi Cracker Mom, I am just wondering if you may have mixed up Catholic Relief Services with an other organization?
They mostly offer help in third world countries and people in those countries that are suffering from natural disasters etc.and are not usually active on a parish or diocese level.
If you could expand on why you think as you do I would appreciate it as I have supported them as I have supported them financially.
Please tell me how they are in opposition to Church Teaching.
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Sorry, you are correct.The incident in particular I was thinking of involved a diocesan Catholic Charities not CRS, although the two cooperate through Operation Rice Bowl, etc. Also, one of the individuals involved was an immigrant from Latin America which made me think of CRS. That’s why diocesan troubles re. Church Teaching came to mind.
I do think there have also been issues with CRS itself as a previous poster mentions, but the problem I was remembering was at the diocesan level & with Catholic Charities. Thanks for helping me clarify.
I send money to CRS, too. Overall, they do a good job.
 
Cracker_Mom said:
Sorry, you are correct.The incident in particular I was thinking of involved a diocesan Catholic Charities not CRS, although the two cooperate through Operation Rice Bowl, etc. Also, one of the individuals involved was an immigrant from Latin America which made me think of CRS. That’s why diocesan troubles re. Church Teaching came to mind.
I do think there have also been issues with CRS itself as a previous poster mentions, but the problem I was remembering was at the diocesan level & with Catholic Charities. Thanks for helping me clarify.
I send money to CRS, too. Overall, they do a good job.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the answer and God Bless!
 
thomasf said:
In response to the sponsor a child commercials I always see on tv, I went looking for a catholic sponsored equivalent charity. I found Catholic Relief Services. They have lots of interesting ways to help people out around the world, and it’s appealing to me.

The question is, are they on the up and up? I am skittish after finding out about the campaign for human development last year. Anyone have any reviews about CRS?

I like the programs they have for fund raisers in the parish. I’d like to try to get one of those going next year.
Click to expand...
You can rest assured CRS is a Great charity…Nearly all of your dollar goes to the need and very little goes to administrative costs. If I, in a moment of weakness would buy a lottery ticket and become a big winner, CRS is one of the first in line for a major contribution.
 
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