[maxander]

There are a few organizations that try to quantitatively evaluate charitable organizations and similar- notably (and off the top of my head), CharityWatch [1]. Donating based on their metrics (although not the irrefutable truth of the matter, likely enough) is likely to lead to better "returns" from a donation than going by brand/marketing power.

Notably, despite its prominence, Red Cross scores only a "B+" rating on CharityWatch.

[1] www.charitywatch.org

[hackinthebochs]

The B+ rating seems to be at odds with the amount of vitriol being spewed at Red Cross in this thread.

[mcv]

Perhaps Haiti was a particularly bad project for them. I've heard of other charities having problems in Haiti.

Still, Doctors without Borders USA gets an A.