A New York Times story about the American Red Cross’s $200-million operating deficit and pending staff cuts has left the author of Don’t Tell the Donor wondering: What sunk the charity into such a financial hole?

“Take your pick. Is this the result of the leadership scandal caused by Mark Everson’s departure, the lack of any significant natural disasters in 2007, or the first wave of RIFs that ‘a fund raiser’ has been warning against for the past two weeks,” the anonymous blogger writes.

Jack Siegel also weighs in on the topic at Charity Governance. The Red Cross’s fund raising was hurt, he says, by a new approach the charity took after September 11 to allow donors to earmark gifts for victims of specific disasters.

The fund-raising program, called Donor Direct, and the public’s “obsession with big disasters,” has been largely responsible for the Red Cross’s plight, Mr. Siegel says. What’s more, he says, the charity has done far too little to educate donors about the needs of victims of small-scale disasters.

(For more on developments at the Red Cross, see The Chronicle article.)

What do you think? What’s to blame for the Red Cross’s problems? And can the organization dig itself out of its financial morass?