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Give Them Cash, Not Sweaters.
Cash. Unrestricted cold hard cash
is what aid organizations are asking for instead of hand me downs, food, and
other consumer items. It is often our instinct to want to help by sending
blankets, food, or warm clothes to those affected by natural disasters. But
sometimes our instincts can lead us astray. When a disaster strikes, it is
better to send cash, than to donate consumer items.
With the cash sent, relief
organizations can pay their staff, buy supplies and fund their projects. It is
more realistic and more beneficial for these organizations to buy the supplies
such as blankets and food locally, usually for a cheaper price, than having
them sent to them from across the world.
It is important
that when donating money, it is unrestricted cash that is given. Disasters will
often receive a flood of money, but that does not mean that all of it is helpful
or of the same value. After the earthquake in Haiti, millions of dollars poured
in, but relief for flooding in Pakistan a few months later was severely
underfunded. Organizations that were working in both Haiti and Pakistan could
not use ‘Haiti money’ to help in Pakistan because it was restricted to Haiti
and to specific projects. That is why it is very important to donate
unrestricted cash. Tom Murphy, a writer for Humanosphere.org gives a good
example of this when he says “When you
earmark a donation for certain spending, the organization has to spend it based
on what you tell them, not on need. If it costs $75 million to provide aid and
relief in the Philippines for organization x and it gets $100 million in
donations for the Philippines, that means that the extra money has to be spent
and quickly.” This means that even if people are generous with monetary
donations, the majority of it had to be used for relief work even if it was no
longer needed, or if it could be better used somewhere else in the world.
Another
thing people will often think is a good thing to do is go and volunteer at a
disaster site. The truth is, while it can sometimes be helpful, a lot of the
time the hassle that the people working in the organizations go through to
train the volunteers and get them situated, outweighs the benefits that the
volunteers provide. The money that you spend on plane tickets, and other travel
arrangements would be better used if you just donated it.
While
giving cash is an excellent alternative to giving consumer items it is very
important to make sure that the site that is transferring the money from you to
the aid groups, is reputable. If it is an organization, it is good to research
if the majority of the money actually goes to helping people or if it goes to
paying the CEO.
CharityWatch.com
is a good place to start with your research. It has a list of many different
organizations, and gives them a letter grade based on the following criteria: “generally spend 75% or more of their
budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, do not
hold excessive assets in reserve, and receive "open-book" status for
disclosure of basic financial information and documents to CharityWatch.” The
Red Cross, Goodwill, Save The Children and Action Against Hunger are a few
organizations that have been ‘graded’ on this website.
The next time
disaster strikes, do not hesitate to donate or do what feels right, but do
remember that cash will often be the best choice. If giving food seems like the only option for
you, bring it to your local soup kitchen where it will be better put to use.
MLA Citations:
"CIDI." USAID Center for International Disaster
Information CIDI. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.cidi.org/how-disaster-relief-works/guidelines-for-giving/#.UorUSGTwLh8>.
Ellis, Blake. "Where your donations actually go."
CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 24 May 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
<http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/24/pf/donations-charities/>.
"Want to help the Philippines? Give unrestricted
cash | ." Humanosphere RSS. N.p., 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 21
Nov. 2013. <http://www.humanosphere.org/2013/11/want-help-philippines-give-unrestricted-cash/>.
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