NOTE: This post will stay at top for the rest of the day. Check below it for updates.
Today’s the Carnival of Fundraising for hurricane Katrina disaster relief. I recommend The Salvation Army as they’re a Christian charity that seems to have avoided scandal that has plagued some other charities (though I think the bad publicity has caused The Red Cross — usually a first responder – to reform).
Glenn Reynolds has a big list of charities to donate to. I would first see if your place of work is going to match donations before picking one. And, as I said before, it’s not charity unless you’re hesitant to give that much.
Now excuse me while I call my company’s HR department to see if they’re doing the matching funds again.
UPDATE: My company is doing matching funds with The Red Cross, so that’s who I’ll be donating to.
UPDATE2: There is now an ad for Mercy Corps on my sidebar, a charity recommended by John Hawkins of Right Wing News for their efficiency with the money donated to them.
T Tags: flood aid, hurricane katrina
My company won’t be doing matching funds, but then, I work for the government, and I think thier participation in this is already covered.
My company has not made any annoucements as of yet; we did do a drive for the tsunami back in January.
OT: Take note of how both sides of the blogosphere has reacted to Katrina.
FOR THE LEFT: A COMPASSION VACATION
I’m giving at work.
GM is matching employee contributions dollar for dollar.
I might do the Salvation Army, too.
They are low key, but are always there for people.
They don’t seem like media whores, and like you said Frank, so far appear to be scandal-free.
“Be careful not to do your `acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:1-4
I see a lot of left-wing pages posting donation links the same as everyone else. Yeah, there’s been some politiking of this, but I’m not going to question people’s compassion on this one.
Jimmyb, I couldn’t have said it better.
Bless you and everyone who gives.
I tried to give to the Salvation Army but their website was slooooooooooooooow and I’m very impatient. I gave, through Amazon, to the Red Cross. I hope they don’t mess around as usual. I will give them my blood but I don’t like to give them money.
I’ll try the Salvation Army over the weekend. I don’t believe as they do, but they do the best work in the worse places.
I have a question. Since Bush is giving blood for oil, and I give the Red Cross my blood, why doesn’t the Red Cross give me oil for my blood? Is the exchange rate really bad or something? I mean, my blood is as good as anybody else’s. And with prices going up I bet their donations would skyrocket. Why don’t they take a leaf from Bush’s playbook and start giving oil for blood?
They really have to think outside the box. After you get two or three of those T-shirts the incentive just isn’t there.
Some of us work for the government, or companies who don’t match donations. Why doesn’t someone who dose work for such a company set up a Paypal account, so the rest of us can route our donations through them, and get them matched?
I would trust it if it was set up by one of this sites bloggers, or someone sanctioned by them.
Do you think this would be honest?
Just throwing the idea out there, but I’ll send money if you set it up.
SonofJorel- I like the sentiment, but I know my company (and probably most companies), which has announced they will match employee contributions, would consider that an ethics violation.
I am proud to work where I do, the company has given $1M in cash, $1M in material contributions (insulin and diabetes supplies) and will match all employee contributions to the Red Cross (why I chose them over the Salvation Army).
Not bad for an EVIL phramaceutical company.
Brian
Even though my company was late setting up the matching, I was really impressed that they decided to match $2 for every $1 donated. They really impressed me this time out!
I’m going to have to figure out how to donate without a credit card, since mine seems to have expired without warning. Hopefully my college will set something up and I can just give cash…
i can’t help but to think that those in this condition placed themselves there and then criticizing the government for their plight. no one takes personal responsibility anymore.
penpal,
ain’t many people more conservative than me.
your statement is as ignorant, as it is offensive.
they got damn little warning. those with no means (read money, cars), had no options offered other than go walk to the Superdome.
no buses showed up to take them to that hell-hole.
I hope you won’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you’re an idiot.
Veeshir, you’re an idiot, too. Go ahead and take that the wrong way.
Found a site that tracks charity spending. Charity Navigator.
McWert, I’m an A-hole.
You however, have no sense of humor.
Hey, they stole my idea.
…they’re offering a $10 gas card to anyone who gives blood…
For those who cannot afford to give anything, or those who wish to give a little more than they already have, you may want to visit http://www.thehungersite.com
The site’s sponsors pay for your daily click. The sponsors purchase tiles on the Thank You page for a certain amount of time. The Hunger Site then tabulates the number of people who click during that time frame and bill the sponsor for the appropriate amount. The Hunger Site divides the monies between two leading hunger relief organizations: America’s Second Harvest and Mercy Corps. 100% of the income recieved from the banners goes to those two organizations.
I realise that a cup of food isn’t much… but for those who havn’t eaten for days will not only need it but appreciate it.
Kudos on your efforts to bring relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There is another way bloggers and other thoughtful people can help:
I have opened forums at http://www.DisasterReliefIdeas.org for the discussion of ideas to aid disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I am not soliciting donations, only ideas. Experts in aspects of disaster relief (housing, healthcare, rebuilding, etc.) are also able to rate these ideas, giving us a means of identifying the most promising ones, which will be shared with disaster relief professionals and persons in authority. Please help our society by contributing your ideas, especially if you are unable to contribute financially to relief efforts.
Just dropped my check off at the Salvation Army in Sunnyvale; they assured me that it will find its way quickly to the folks in Louisiana and Mississippi. It was a real pleasure, as always, dealing with such humble people who, moreover, are so committed to doing the most good with my money.
And a big thank you to Frank and the others for reminding me of my responsibility to give.
Veeshir, you’re too stupid to live. I wish it was funny.
Thank you very much. I would be most upset if you didn’t feel that way.
Need a charity?
http://www.iocc.org/hurricane/
They take only 8% of donations received for administrative costs, compared with the United Way’s staggering 35%.
If you can’t donate money, donate a “Gift of the Heart” instead.
http://www.iocc.org/kidspage/healthkit_frameset.html
I have made a customized EMERGENCY type search engine that links only to crisis situation type websites (like relief aide, evacuation planning layouts, crisis management setup and others relating to disasters caused by terrorism, natural disasters, poverty, disease and man-made war), see http://www.CrisisSearch.com … This niche portal was made after the Katrina devastation and hopefully it will assist humanity in/during the next disasterous crisis…
My first ever nonprofit humanitarian project was http://www.SpareSomeChange.com which only covers resources for those living homeless (I had suffered homelessness a few times as a youth). I will try to come up with other helping humanity type portals as I can afford too…