Beware: This organization takes your blood and sells it on the open market for massive profits. They give blood donors a token gift card--which speaks volumes in that they see this as a financial TRANSACTION and not a way to support the community. They treat donors terribly with run-down facilities, long waits, and rude, moody, unprofessional staff. They pretend the blood stays local and is used to save lives. But ask them--they can't guarantee it. Do not work or donate with this organization. They are dinosaurs.
NYBC has given their 19 honorary Trustees & Directors (Non-Employees) a $9 Million salary + pension plan package. This is unheard of in other 501's in the USA. Most Trustees & Directors take expenses or a token salary. During this time when the honorary people got $9 Million per year, the research chimps were left to die. NYBC said they didn't have the money to pay for their care, per Christopher Hillyer's statements. The total for the chimps was $360,000 yearly. In their 2014 tax returns, they show $6 Million in Interest. That is a lot of money for a Non-Profit. It's based on investments, stocks, & properties. NYBC received $1.7 Billion dollars from individuals during 2010-2014. It appears they are willing to spend over $9 million on 19 "honorary" people, but not $360,000 on research animals of 37 years. These animals brought them over half a billion dollars in Hep vaccine patents. New York Blood Center is immensely wealthy. It's head, Howard Milstein, is currently being sued for illegal loans targeting minorities in his Emigrant Bank. Please donate "the gift of life" to Sloan Kettering or The Red Cross. Honor the national boycott against this so-called Non-Profit. Thank you.
Review from Guidestar
While this charity may in fact do wonderful things through its work, it is also capable of great wrong. If you have a choice where to donate blood, please consider the information below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/science/chimpanzees-liberia-new-york-blood-center.html?_r=0
New York Post, May 28, 2015 (excerpt)
After about 30 years of using a colony of chimpanzees in Liberia for biomedical research, which ended 10 years ago, the New York Blood Center has now withdrawn all funding for them, prompting animal welfare groups to urge the center to reconsider its decision.
For now, the Humane Society of the United States is supporting the chimps, which are owned by the government of Liberia, and is starting a campaign to raise funds for them.
“The New York Blood Center is abandoning 66 chimpanzees and leaving their fate to chance,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the society. The cost of caring for and feeding the chimps is about $30,000 a month.
Brian Hare, an anthropologist and primatologist at Duke University who is also known for his studies of dog intelligence, started a petition on Change.org to urge people to contact the New York Blood Center.
Mr. Hare said in an email, “I have studied great apes for 20 years in all contexts across the globe — labs, zoos, sanctuaries, the wild” and others. “Never, ever have I seen anything even remotely as disgusting as this.”
Review from Guidestar