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The American Red Cross has been fined for poor and unsafe blood management practices, failing to correct violations of blood-safety rules, MSNBC reported.

The Food and Drug Administration has slapped a $9.59 million fine on the the American Red Cross after inspections at 16 blood centers between April and October 2010 showed ongoing problems that could endanger donors and potentially allow contaminated blood to get into the country’s supply, MSNBC reported.

The American Red Cross has been cited 14 times since 2003 and fined close to $46 million for similar reasons, Bloomberg reported. The organization also didn’t ensure that its entire staff has been adequately trained in blood safety. It also hasn’t created a complete list of prospective donors who were disqualified from giving blood, according to a letter the FDA made public on January 13.

“FDA cannot definitively say there was never any danger to the blood supply since the violations can create conditions that could lead to potential safety consequences,” said Patricia El-Hinnawy, FDA spokeswoman, MSNBC reported.

The American Red Cross supplies 40 percent of the nation’s blood. The letter also doesn’t rule out at the potentially infected blood has already been transfused, USA Today reported.

But the FDA has yet to find any evidence that points to any serious health consequences for blood recipients, Bloomberg reported.

“The safety of the nation’s blood supply is one of our top priorities, and we have no reason to believe that it has been compromised,” said Mary Malarkey, head of compliance at the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Bloomberg reported. “It’s very important to note that people who need transfusions should continue to take their doctors’ advice, and we encourage people to donate blood.”

A Red Cross spokeswoman has also said in a statement that the problems the FDA points out in its 32-page letter are centered on an inspection at a Philadelphia blood center conducted 15 months ago, MSNBC reported.

“We are disappointed that the FDA believed it necessary to impose a fine for an inspection conducted so long ago,” wrote Stephanie Millian, director of biomedical communications, MSNBC reported. “We are not aware of any adverse donor reactions or patient issues due to the problems in the FDA report.”

However, a fine in June 2010 was for similar failures within the organization.

To Donate To Help Honey and Animals Like Her: The Humane Society

To Donate To Help Honey and Animals Like Her: The Humane Society

Donations to the nation’s biggest charities dropped 11 percent last year, a decline that was the worst in the two decades since The Chronicle started its Philanthropy 400 ranking of the organizations that raise the most from private sources.

Nonprofit organizations say they don’t expect to have done much better by the time 2010 ends. More than one in four of the groups provided projections for 2010, and the median change they predicted was an increase of just 1.4 percent.

The 400 institutions in the survey raised $68.6-billion in 2009. The drop they suffered in contributions was nearly four times as great as the next biggest annual decrease: 2.8 percent in 2001, when charities also struggled to raise money from recession-battered donors.

The median amount raised by charities on the Philanthropy 400 also declined last year to $98.8-million, down from $105-million in 2008, meaning half raised more and half raised less. The Philanthropy 400 is based on the most-recent year of data available for charities; most organizations reported data for the 2009 fiscal year but some groups reported data for other periods of time.

The Top 10

Among the 10 charities that raised the most last year, six reported declines. Giving to United Way Worldwide (No. 1) decreased by 4.5 percent and to the Salvation Army (No. 2) by 8.4 percent, the smallest declines among the top-ranking groups.

Food for the Poor (No. 5) saw contributions fall by more than 27 percent, while donations to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (No. 6) plunged by 40.3 percent, largely because it relies heavily on stock gifts, which were not very popular last year. Also reporting declines were the American Cancer Society (No. 7), where giving fell by 11 percent, and the Y (No. 10), which reported a 17.2-percent drop in donations.

Only four charities in the top 10 reported increased contributions last year. They were Catholic Charities USA (No. 9) with a 5.2-percent jump in donations; the AmeriCares Foundation (No. 3), which achieved an 18.1-percent rise in giving, mostly in food, medicine, and other donated goods; Feed the Children (No. 4), another charity that relies on donated products, where contributions rose by 1.2 percent; and World Vision (No. 8), which reported a 4.5-percent increase in giving mostly by donors who make monthly gifts to “sponsor” needy children overseas.

$1-Billion Gainers

While AmeriCares fared well last year, its fund-raising growth for the past two decades helped it achieve the top ranking among organizations that grew the fastest in the 20 years since The Chronicle started ranking the top fund-raising charities. It increased giving by $1.1-billion. Two other charities also grew by more than $1-billion: Feed the Children and Habitat for Humanity, which now ranks No. 11.

The Chronicle’s list shows how hard it is for new organizations to raise enough to make the Philanthropy 400 list. Of the charities on the 2010 list, 226 of the same groups appeared in 1991 and 178 organizations appeared on the list for all 20 years.

Two nonprofit leaders who played a key role in helping their organizations get on the list will discuss fund-raising trends and how their organizations overcome fund-raising challenges in afree online discussion on Tuesday, October 19, at noon U.S. Eastern time.

The Philanthropy 400 shows the organizations that raise the most from individuals, foundations, and businesses. No government funds are counted. As a result, some organizations that are large but get most of their money from government agencies are not included. Full coverage of this year’s Philanthropy 400 rankings, plus a look at the 20-year history of the list, are available athttp://philanthropy.com/400.

The Food and Drug Administration has declared the blockbuster drug Avastin should no longer be used in breast cancer patients because there’s no proof it extends their lives, and it is causing dangerous side effects.

Friday’s ruling was long expected, but is sure to disappoint women who say they’ve run out of other options.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg called the decision difficult but said patients must have confidence that drugs sold for their condition are effective.

Avastin won’t stop selling, as it’s also used to treat colon cancer and certain other tumors, but the FDA ruling is expected to influence insurance coverage. Medicare says it will continue to cover Avastin while it evaluates whether a change is needed.

Online Advertising is fast becoming the mainstay of many businesses. And in many cases a more precise and direct correlation can be draw between online advertising performance versus traditional print, outdoor, radio and television ad programs.

Charities and non-commercial causes and events have begun to depend in large part to rely on the more cost efficient and diverse advertising that is available on the web and have have fled in mass from the limited and more expense traditional forms of promotion.

Ad Donor is working on bringing businesses and charities together to form a network for cooperative ads that benefit both commercial and non-profit organizations in their efforts to raise awareness and funding for their efforts.