Are we able to curate a list of reputable charities that we know deliver the goods (without getting political or religious, or anything else)?
www.savethechildren.org.uk - obvious how they help, 1% overhead, 11% fundraising costs.
http://shelterbox.org/ - provide emergency relief kits in portable crates, kind of International Rescue with boxes
Can BBS be some kind of like-minded folk’s resource?
If you guys want to help, now’s the time!
And the situation is, of course, worse than early reports suspected. 1,200 estimated casualties.
Seriously, now is the time to donate!
England and Wales
http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/
USA
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
Germany
http://www.dzi.de/
Switzerland
http://www.zewo.ch/
http://www.ehrenkodex.ch/
Austria
I’ve found Charity Navigator and the AIP’s Charity Watchdog to be useful websites for checking whether charities are credible. You do still need to apply your own common-sense evaluations since your judgement about what’s most important may not match theirs (especially for organizations whose mission is largely publicity/awareness), but I use them as a first-pass screen and to help me choose when there are several charities operating in the same space.
The Phillipines is a real mess. Check out the death figures online, BBC is reporting >10k on one island alone.
I have, of course, put my money where my mouth is - US$150 donated split between Save the Children and Shelterbox, both of which are running emergency relief efforts.
The Red Cross, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Borders are usually my 3 choices for emergency disaster relief, but I’m not sure DWB is going into the Philippines - at least I haven’t seen them mentioned in the two lists of reputable places to donate for this emergency.
(Heifer Project is my choice for longer-term assistance but not useful in a disaster.)
For emergency services, I’m always partial to Doctors Without Borders.
I try to maintain a moderately high level of donation on a continuous basis, so organizations have the money they need BEFORE the disaster strikes. Among other things, that lets them address all the crises which don’t get air time.
Agreed on the ongoing donations, I do the same for exactly the same reasons.
A lot of agencies are actively marketing for donations for the Typhoon in the Philippines right now - give what you can, people!
Now there’s a polio outbreak in Syria - if other people’s pain and suffering hasn’t moved you to donate, consider your own country’s welfare - this could spread.
I just received an email from ShelterBox - 13,000 families received their shelter and survival equipment this year. Donate!
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