How to Contribute to Disaster Relief

(assuming: desire to help > desire to feel good about yourself)

1. Find a good organization.

2. Send money, not stuff.

3. Don’t go there (unless specifically asked to by a good organization)

4. Give unrestricted funds.

5. Think beyond the disaster.

Number 4 was the point that prompted this post. Once again, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) feels it has enough funds to fuel its near term response in Haiti. They are asking for unrestricted funds:

We are incredibly grateful for the generous support from our donors for the emergency in Haiti.

MSF has been working in Haiti for 19 years, most recently operating three emergency hospitals in Port-au-Prince, and is mobilizing a large emergency response to this disaster. Our immediate response in the first hours following the disaster in Haiti was only possible because of private unrestricted donations from around the world received before the earthquake struck. We are currently reinforcing our teams on the ground in order to respond to the immediate medical needs and to assess the humanitarian needs that MSF will be addressing in the months ahead.

We are now asking our donors to give to our Emergency Relief Fund. These types of funds ensure that our medical teams can react to the Haiti emergency and humanitarian crises all over the world, particularly neglected crises that remain outside the media spotlight. Your gift via this website will be earmarked for our Emergency Relief Fund.

Find a great organization to support, and trust them to use your money where it is most needed. They know this far better than we can.

Surely there will be another humanitarian disaster after Haiti. We can’t always predict when and where that will happen, but we can continue to learn how to respond, even on an individual level.

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(Photo above courtesy of Marco Dormino, through Creative Commons)

       

Tagged as: doctors without borders, haiti, msf