If you want to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunamis in Southeast Asia, here are some options I’ve found for online donations. If anyone knows of other reputable international aid societies, please feel free to add them to the list.
This is inspired by this thread, where some people were asking how they could help. Oxfam.
As I said, these are the only ones **I ** know of, and I am not saying these are the only good aid societies, or that any are better than others. I just want to help, and I know that all of these places are currently accepting donations to help the tsunami victims. If you want to help too, then please get the word out.
The following aid agencies are accepting contributions for assistance that they or their affiliates will provide for those affected by the earthquake and tidal waves in Asia.
Action Against Hunger
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, NY 10018
212-967-7800 http://www.aah-usa.org
American Jewish World Service
45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10018
800-889-7146
ADRA International
9-11 Fund
12501 Old Columbus Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904
800-424-2372
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC Crisis Fund)
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA
215-241-7000
Catholic Relief Services
PO Box 17090
Baltimore, MD 21203-7090
800-736-3467
Direct Relief International
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
805-964-4767
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
PO Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
888-392-0392
International Medical Corps
1919 Santa Monica Boulevard Suite 300
Santa Monica CA 90404
800-481-4462
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
PO Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
41-22-730-4222
International Orthodox Christian Charities
Middle East Crisis Response
PO Box 630225
Baltimore, MD 21263-0225
877-803-4622
Lutheran World Relief
PO Box 17061
Baltimore MD 21298-9832
800-597-5972
MAP International
2200 Glynco Parkway
PO Box 215000
Brunswick, GA 3121-5000
800-225-8550 http://www.map.org
Mercy Corps
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
800-852-2100
Northwest Medical Teams
PO Box 10
Portland, OR 97207-0010
503-624-1000
Operation USA
8320 Melrose Avenue, Ste. 200
Los Angles, CA 90069
800-678-7255 http://www.opusa.org
Relief International
11965 Venice Blvd. #405
Los Angeles, CA 90066
800-572-3332
Save the Children
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, CT 06880
800-728-3843
US Fund for UNICEF
333 East 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
800-FOR-KIDS http://www.unicefusa.or
World Concern
19303 Fremont Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98133
800-755-5022
World Relief
7 E. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
443-451-1900
World Vision
PO Box 70288
Tacoma, Washington 98481-0288
888-56-CHILD
I use Charity Navigator to research various charities. I went through ShibbOleth’s list and added their rating and program expenses percentage (defined as “This measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. Dividing a charity’s program expenses by its total functional expenses yields this percentage.”) Not all the charities were included and some were only their US components (Doctors without Borders, for example). International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent was absent, although American Red Cross was.
I hope that this helps.
Action Against Hunger
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 89.0% http://www.aah-usa.org
American Jewish World Service
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 84.9%
ADRA International
Charity Navigator Rating: 3 Stars
Program Expenses: 92.3%
Direct Relief International
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 99.1%
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
(Doctors Without Borders, USA)
Charity Navigator Rating: 3 Stars
Program Expenses: 85.7%
International Orthodox Christian Charities
Charity Navigator Rating: 2 Stars
Program Expenses: 86.8%
Lutheran World Relief
Charity Navigator Rating: 3 Stars
Program Expenses: 93.6%
MAP International
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 98.9% http://www.map.org
Mercy Corps
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 91.2%
Northwest Medical Teams
Charity Navigator Rating:4 Stars
Program Expenses: 96.2%
Operation USA
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 98.1% http://www.opusa.org
Relief International
Charity Navigator Rating: 3 Stars
Program Expenses: 84.8%
Save the Children
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 90.9%
US Fund for UNICEF
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 88.5% http://www.unicefusa.or
World Relief
Charity Navigator Rating: 2 Stars
Program Expenses: 82.1%
World Vision
Charity Navigator Rating: 4 Stars
Program Expenses: 85.2%
Despite the ratings given here, some of these charities are clearly not oriented towards this sort of relief, or is too small to benefit from an economy of scale. I would urge donors to target the larger charities that can do things like fill and charter container ships or planes, things that well-meaning but underresourced charities won’t be able to do.
My employer sent out an email today reminding everyone of their corporate donation matching policy (I think it’s 50% up to a certain dollar limit, but I don’t recall for certain) and mentioned some organizations that qualify (some are listed here). If anyone is looking to donate, do check your own employer’s matching policy. I would have forgotten about it if not for the email. I have to hurry up now to get my paperwork in by year end (it’s not a lot, just one form), but it’s worth it!
This is similar to my line of thought. Right now the thing that can have most impact in terms of lives saved is mitigating the inevitable cholera and typhoid epidemics. So it was Medicins Sans Frontieres that got my donation.
If you donate money now, you can possibly deduct the donation from your 2004 income taxes. Please consider giving to one of the charities mentioned in various threads here, and if you can, spread the word around to others outside the SMDB on how they can also help.