Senator Seeks Financial Information From American Red Cross Leaders

The American Red Cross is facing a new set of questions from a key U.S. senator.

In May, Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, sent the Red Cross 39 questions about its fund-raising

practices following the September terrorist attacks.

He said he had heard from colleagues in Congress and some of his constituents “that in major fund-raising drives, the Red Cross has been unclear about how it will use donations.”

Mr. Grassley also inquired about the charity’s financial reporting and disaster-relief policies after September 11.

The Red Cross provided a 47-page response in June. The organization conceded that it had faced a number of difficulties since September 11. But it insisted that new fund-raising practices it recently put into place should satisfy concerns about its operations.

Last month, Mr. Grassley, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent another letter to the charity asking for answers to additional questions.

He told the charity that independent sources had informed him that the Red Cross still faced significant problems.

Several “important chapters” of the organization, he said he was told, have a history of financial mismanagement that the Red Cross knew of before September 11. He said the charity had “failed to implement reforms that would guarantee” that chapters account for their finances.

Senator Grassley wrote that the information he had received led him “to conclude that the rosy picture the Red Cross sought to present does not match the reality.”

He asked the Red Cross to respond to his questions by September 6.

“We’re trying to make sure that money contributed for certain charitable reasons is used for those reasons — that there is adequate accounting for all the money, not only of the national organization, but of the affiliates,” Mr. Grassley said in an interview with The Chronicle.

“If we don’t clean up this mess, people will be less apt to give, and then we’re going to have more things dumped on government programs,” Mr. Grassley said.

Phil Zepeda, a spokesman for the American Red Cross, said the charity is in “continuing conversation” with Senator Grassley’s office about his inquiries.

Said Mr. Zepeda: “We are working with him to make sure he understands what we have in place and to address any concerns he may have.”