Effective donations for hurricane relief

ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
edited September 4, 2005 in The Big Picture
Which organizations most effectively turn our donations into actual help for people who need it? Large charities like United Way have a tendency to have large overhead costs and bureaucracies which dilute our contributions. Others have various political (and other) adgendas and I personally want to see more of my money used directly to help people instead promoting any particular point of view.

I dug around a little but I can't say I managed to find out anything very deep. Here is one organization that seems to have a very direct connection between contributions made and help given:

http://www.secondharvest.org/

I'd like to hear from others who have thought about this issue.
If not now, when?

Comments

  • PossumCornerPossumCorner Registered Users Posts: 290 Major grins
    edited September 4, 2005
    Relief Funds
    That one looks good. And Ginger has put an amazing link to a Geographic article in the thread under Wide Angle, which in turn has a link to Geographic's list of the major collectors. One issue here is the need for ongoing funds because the needs of the victims don't evaporate after a few meals. When the Tsunami collection was made here, people gave generously but it got to a point of everyone hit by "donor exhaustion". World Vision came under some dreadful criticism for withholding some donor money back and not giving it all away immediately. The reality is that the need will remain long after people have stopped donating. Sure I'd rather give to a fund where donations will be used on the ground immediately. But I know that longer term planning needs to be taken into account, and funds held over for that are not being wasted, and are not being milled back into "administrative costs", not by World Vision at least.
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited September 4, 2005
    also, charity begins at home
    i spent a couple hours with my 17 yr old son and 16 yr old daughter, putting together a plan to collect school supplies, backpacks, sneakers, and other essentials for the many many school-kids that are displaced, and without anything.

    i think it really helped my kids to do this, they could very easily relate to what the kids would need.

    they're organizing their high school to start collections immediately starting tuesday - and there's already a local company that's going to stage all the donations and then work with the larger groups to get the goods to where it's needed.

    just an example...
  • lynnmalynnma Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 5,208 Major grins
    edited September 4, 2005
    andy wrote:
    i spent a couple hours with my 17 yr old son and 16 yr old daughter, putting together a plan to collect school supplies, backpacks, sneakers, and other essentials for the many many school-kids that are displaced, and without anything.

    i think it really helped my kids to do this, they could very easily relate to what the kids would need.

    they're organizing their high school to start collections immediately starting tuesday - and there's already a local company that's going to stage all the donations and then work with the larger groups to get the goods to where it's needed.

    just an example...
    great stuff Andy.. and your kids will benefit by the experience of helping others.clap.gif
  • ginger_55ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins
    edited September 4, 2005
    Lemonade Stands collect for Katrina
    Well, I gave $3 to some parents and kids running a lemonade stand on Sullivan's Island, today.

    I will put photos up shortly, or sometime soon. My problem now is that I promised to try to get the photo in the local paper. I have the name of one of the women, and I need to contact her, to coordinate this as she has the info.

    I have no idea how they are distributing the money, but I am assuming it will get somewhere good.

    How is that for scientific giving.

    I think that I post everywhere that I give to Catholic Charities, if I could I would give directly to a church. We were helped in our 1989 hurricane by the diocese of Charleston's fund and Catholic Charities, and how they got that money, I don't know. Our priest told us that the Bishop had promised a bunch of money, millions, to help the people. He said not to hesitate to ask if we needed anything, etc.

    Later he admitted to me that what he said was not true. The bishop had not said anything, so then the Priest went and got him to say it: and he made sure it was given.
    Some people were heavily insured and some had none. Many had home owners, but not flood insurance. I had renter's insurance. I had never heard of flood insurance, and neither had many other people. It was a mess.
    In something like that we all do what we gotta do.

    Our church ran a "soup kitchen" type thing for the workers and people of the island. They have been planning all this summer for another hurricane and feeding the people. Also, they commandeered their old church bus and used it to take people from one end of the island to the other. The bridge was broken for a long time, so people were having to walk, no matter their age or condition. A ferry brought them/us over. The Priest rode on the bus and comforted people. The Presbyterian Church at the other end of the island was totally destroyed. I was on that bus when we picked up the minister who had seen it for the first time. He broke down and cried heavily. The church was totally rebuilt. I don't know what happened to the minister.

    Our church, here, is not collecting for the flood until the middle of the month, for another unrelated reason. Most of the Catholic Churches are collecting today. Yes, this will be an ongoing need. And the needs will somewhat change as time passes.

    ginger
    After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,948 moderator
    edited September 4, 2005
    I volunteered for United Way campaigns for a company I previously worked
    for. At the time, their overhead was between eight and ten cents for each
    dollar raised. Pretty good performance.

    John is right to look at a charity's performance. Especially those that you're
    not familiar with.

    As an example, some of those telephone solicitors claiming to represent
    various public safety organizations often keep as much as fifty percent of
    the monies raised. Not a very good return on investment unless you're the
    company raising the money.

    Although agencies like United Way will tell you their method of raising money
    and distributing it is the most effective (and there is some validity to that
    claim), sending a check directly to the charity you want to support means
    100% will go to that charity.

    So as you consider giving, do the best to insure the money goes to the
    cause and not to line the pockets of the collectors.

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
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