# Why should I donate money to hurricane victims? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 2, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766 "2005-09-02T18:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/41 "2005-09-03T17:47:30Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > (snip) ARC isn’t Jesus, they can’t transform one fish into thousands, but they \*can \* buy fish from local vendors and thus help out the afflicted area’s economy. Which is an excellent point. Suppose Bob owns a supermarket just at the edge of a disaster area. His store miraculously survives with just a few tiles blown off the roof. He helps out by donating a bunch of cases of soup and stew, but can’t give away his whole inventory – he’ll go broke. Now suppose that WalMart, Campell’s and UPS decide to help out the people in the disaster area by sending people all the food they can eat, gratis. Obviously, nobody is going to **buy** food from Bob. Having miraculously survived the disaster, he’s wiped out by the charitable response. I’m sure that considerations like this go into the charities’ usual preference for cash. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/42 "2005-09-03T18:26:27Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > I calculate much closer to 90% towards relief programs and 10% to overhead & management. The people you hear quoting the opposite might be thinking of the United Way scandal of several years ago, and misapplying it to charities in general. THe United Way scandal still has a lot of folks stung about the big charities in general. But in a crisis like this I think the ARC would be the best way to go. They have the presence to put the money to work ASAP. A local outfit may not even have the capacity to take donations while power and phone are out. Frankly with the ease of Internet donations nowadays, who needs the United Way? Instead of giving to this monster outfit, you can tailor your donations to however you want. The only foks I actually have to write a check to are the local volunteer fire and ambulance companies. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/43 "2005-09-03T21:50:46Z")
I think there’s another thing to factor in, too. While a single independant truck driver might be more willing and able to give $500 worth of transportation than $500 cash, for a big corporation, it’s probably much easier to give cash. Can you imagine the logistics of Walmart suddenly deciding to donate $50 million worth of food and supplies? It would require diverting trucks from stores and warehouses all over the country, taking inventory away from stores, possibly causing runs and shortages in other parts of the country. Who would authorize and coordinate this effort? It would require coordination between the purchasing, shipping, retail, warehouse, and other departments at various levels of management. And then they would all have to spend an enormous amount of time coordinating with the Red Cross to make sure that the right supplies got to the right places at the right times. On the other hand, lets say that Walmart has a depatment dedicated solely to charitable giving. I don’t know if they do, but many large corporation do, and if Walmart doesn’t, they must have someone with that job. (Target, which I know does a lot of charitable giving, almost certainly does.) No one answering the phone at Walmart headquarters can authorize the sort of goods distribution you suggest. Possibly no one in the company can without meetings between the heads of all the affected departments. But it’s easy to transfer the Red Cross caller to the Director of Corporate Giving, who can _instantly_ offer as much money as is budgeted for, and with possibly as little as one phone call, authorize $50 million or more. You’re working for the Red Cross trying to raise resources. Which one do you ask for when you call Walmart? ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/44 "2005-09-04T06:12:11Z")
Moved to IMHO for further discussion. - **xash** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/45 "2005-09-04T09:53:28Z")
I asked for suggestions for a charity in [url=http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332761]this thread\*\*. A suggestion from **pinkfreud** was perfect for me. I had heard of the Mennonites and although I am far from the religious type, I know they will use the money to send people to help re-build, to help salvage, and to help them get there to do the work. These are volunteers. I can’t afford to go, and I probably wouldn’t be much good if I were there. So - I donate to help get someone there who can do what I can’t. However, to cut you some slack…I used to work for a charity and saw the horrible misuse of funds. I understand mistrust of some of the older charities. Lots of that money goes to the insane salaries of the CEO’s of the organizations. That is why I prefer to donate to smaller, closer to the cause, organizations. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/46 "2005-09-04T09:54:51Z")
Ahem…I asked for suggestions for a charity in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332761). ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/47 "2005-09-04T14:17:44Z")
> [@gardentraveler](#): > > Here’s the [summary page for the Red Cross](http://charityreports.give.org/Public/Report.aspx?CharityID=679) from [Give.org](http://Give.org) (part of the Better Business Bureau). If you want to compare to other similar organizations, here’s their list of organizations helping with [Hurricane Katrina disaster relief](http://www.give.org/news/katrina.asp) > > As for why you should give now… In addition to what others have said: a disaster of this magnitude is going to use up more resources than all organizations have planned for. I’m sure that part of the emphasis on “now” has to do with hoping that people will give while they’re focused on the impact of the hurricane. Some of the expenses won’t come until later, but at that point it will be much harder to collect additional donations. > > GT Some of these people are going to need assistance for a very long time. I hope that people and corporation will continue to be generous in the coming months, but, realistically, I think that many of us will start to move on with our own lives and the desire to donate clothing, food, fuel, services, etc. will lessen. Hopefully, relief agencies can raise enough money to meet these people’s needs well into the future–after many volunteers have gone back to their regular jobs, food donations have been used up or perished, etc. I prefer to give money anyway. In part, it’s just easier for me. There’s just not a lot around here to dontate. I can make an online donation now without having to go shopping. Plus, I assume the relief agencies know better than I do what people will need. In addition, I would prefer to give money so people can buy new clothing (in sizes and styles that work for them) that they can use to apply for jobs, go on interviews, or have the dignity of wearing something other than my worn cast offs. But the most important reason I give money: my company matches my contributions dollar for dollar (up to an amount that I couldn’t reach). That means any contribution I make is doubled. Even with any agency overhead, that goes a lot further than a donation of clothes or food. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/48 "2005-09-04T16:10:14Z")
Well, I’m not a rich guy and I donated a small ammount of cash to the Red Cross. But if I bought stuff, I would have to set aside some of my donation for the expense of shipping. Now the Red Cross gets my money electronically. So the full ammount of my pitiful donation is in their account. The Red Cross people in the field can say, ‘Today we need this and tomorrow we’ll need that.’ They are free to procure the items they most need and can do so imediatly. My donation is able to be put to use pretty quickly. If I bought some stuff and sent it, there would be less stuff and it would get there less quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766/49 "2005-09-04T17:31:17Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I think your point about donations is too simplistic. With that kind of logic hospitals would never exist. > > Look at the money issue this way. Even the corporations that provide supplies have to stay solvent. > > Here’s an example: Joe owns a medical supply company and he sells bandages. He has a wharehouse full of bandages that he **paid for** and **pays rent** to store. When it comes time for him to ship his bandages he **pays drivers** to haul the bandages and **pays fuel costs** for the trucks. > > A catastrophe happens and Joe has all the bandages. If Joe simple delivers the bandages without payment he’s bankrupt because he’s already paid a lot of money to have the bandages. He has other options ranging from benevolent to evil. > > Joes choices are: > > A)Donate all of the bandages and lose the rest of his money in transportation costs > B)Still be charitable and sell the bandages at a (cost only) fair price and remain in business. > C)Be impartial to the whole thing and sell bandages at his normal price and remain in business > D)Raise the price and make more money I think A is too stupid to count as benovolent. Unless Joe has all the bandages in the world, and all those bandages are needed to keep the victims alive, then it’s irresponsible of Joe to bankrupt himself (thus impoverishing himself and his employees and their families) in such a fashion. He’d just be creating MORE people in need fo help. Go with B. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-i-donate-money-to-hurricane-victims/319766.md?page=2)