Thought I'd pull these out of the main thread and give them their own spot. Easier to find.
If you have an Amazon account, you can easily donate to the Red Cross here.
Please feel free to add comments, links to other agencies, and tips on what we can do to help.
Bold grades next to some charities reflect the American Institue of Philanthropy's rating for that charity. All that means is that those charities meet the institute's requirements: at least 60% of their budget goes to program services, and charities should spend no more than $35 to raise $100. This doesn't mean that the other charities are crooked, but be aware that there are people who will take advantage of this disaster to steal your money. Give to an established charity with a proven track record.
ADRA International Asia Quake Fund 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 800-424-ADRA (2372) www.adra.org
Air Serv International EP 6583 Merchant Place, Suite 100 Warrenton, VA 20187 www.airserv.org
American Friends Service Committee (A-) 1-888-588-2372 www.afsc.org
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc. DC-South Asia Tsunami Relief P.O. Box 321 847A Second Ave. New York, New York 10017 212-885-0832 www.jdc.org
American Jewish World Service (A) 45 W. 36th St., 10th Fl. New York, NY 10018 212-736-2597 www.ajws.org
AmeriCares (A) 88 Hamilton Ave. Stamford, CT 06902 800-486-4357 www.americares.org
American Red Cross (A+) International Response 2025 E St. NW Washington, D.C. 2006 (202) 303-5279 www.redcross.org
International Medical Corps Tsunami Emergency Response 1919 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 300 Santa Monica, CA 90404-1950 800-481-4462 www.imcworldwide.org
International Relief Teams Asia Earthquake/Floods 3547 Camino Del Rio South, Suite C San Diego, CA 92108 619-284-7979 www.IRTeams.org
International Rescue Committee (A) PO Box 5058 Hagerstown, MD 21741-9874 877-REFUGEE or 733-8433 www.theIRC.org
Latter-Day Saint Charities Humanitarian Aid 50 East North Temple Street, Room 701 Salt Lake City, Utah, 84150-6800 801-240-3544 www.lds.org
Lutheran World Relief (A+) South Asia Tsunami 700 Light St. Baltimore, MD 21230 410-230-2700 www.lwr.org
MAP International (B) P.O. Box 215000 Brunswick, GA 31521 800-225-8550 www.map.org
Mennonite Central Committee (A) 1-888-563-4676 www.mcc.org/
Mercy Corps (B+) Southeast Asia Earthquake Dept. W PO Box 2669 Portland, OR 97208-2669 800-852-2100 www.mercycorps.org
World Vision (B+) P.O. Box 70288 Tacoma, WA 98481-0288 888-56-CHILD www.worldvision.org
[ December 29, 2004, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
Great! Thanks, Chris.
We have to wait until the New Year until donating anything of much significance (working on borrowed money until the next paycheck), but it's budgeted for the first of next month. ANd when we get our reimbursements in, there will be yet more.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Thanks for doing this, Chris.
Something else you can do to help. . .
Once the tourism infrastructure is back in place, vacationing in any of the affected countries will inject money into the local economy and give it a boost. That's an excellent way to help out. Plus you get the added benefit of seeing a part of the world you might otherwise never see. And relax at the same time.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
The Charity Watch watchdog organization also gives a rating for each those charities that he lists, ranking how well the funds to get where it is needed.
Farmgirl
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Edited to add contact info for those who don't feel comfortable donating online.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Farmgirl, thanks! My charity got an A.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Edited to add ratings from AIP. Thanks FG!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Also, I tend to advise AGAINST giving to local charities. As in, local to south Asia.
Corruption is a huge problem here. There are no government watchdogs in place to ensure that an organization calling itself is in fact a charity. Many governments, many politicians, many policemen, etc etc are corrupt here. Many people claim to be collecting for this organization or that, but in reality, they take the money and use it to buy themselves a better car or a bigger house and no money actually goes to the needy.
There are some charities here that are legitimate, but I don't know which ones they are.
If you donate to a recognized charity in a western Country, however, it's much more likely that the money will be used for its intended purposes.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
India is turning down foreign aid. They say they can do it on their own, Sri Lanka turned down Israeli aid workers because the contingent had too much of a military composition. (when I saw the headline it seemed that they had rejected all aid workers from Israel, but that was not true. Headlines, I tell you.
Chris, thank you. I'll be sending others here, since you did such a good job of organizing this list. You're wonderful - thank you.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
All edited from AP and other sources, and from the other thread. I was getting frustrated that I couldn't find a good list (and I work at a newspaper!) and thought others might be as well.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
And I don't have the time/energy, so I doubly appreciate you, Chris!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Chris, I hope you don't mind. I put your post with the donation links and addresses on my website. It just saves me a tonne of time and work. If you do mind, please let me know and I'll take it down.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Not at all. Again, it's not mine, it's collected from the Associated Press and other sources and I hope others will add to it (or subtract, if fraudulent agencies are discovered). Spread it around.
Posted by Happy Camper (Member # 5076) on :
Thanks for the links Chris. I hope to be making a donation soon, and one of blood too. The blood may not go over, but if it doesn't, it will still free up some to go, which is just as good.
Hey, give blood everyone, if you can. And not just now, blood donors are always needed.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I missed that earlier "it's not mine" bit. Thanks.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
eBay has a list of programs and something called "eBay Giving Works where you can sell your items and donate 10 - 100% of your profits to a selected charity.
I kinda like this. You can sell or buy items you would have sold or bought anyway, and donate as you do so. Now I'm thinking of selling off some of the stuff I was going to give away or toss out and use this to help. I've got some stacks of comics that need getting rid of... One note - they deduct a minimum of $10 no matter what your final selling price was, so best avoid this for small auctions.
[ December 30, 2004, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Here is the statement from the first presidency of the LDS church about January 2. It's a typical beginning of the month fast Sunday, but they're requesting that we fast specifically for the victims of the disaster and give generously in our fast offerings.
Thanks for all those links Chris.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
I made a donation through Amazon tonight. (They have all my credit card info already saved and ready to go!! )
They have accepted over 140,000 donations, averaging about $80 per donation. I hope this keeps climbing.
[edit to add: Amazon donates directly to the American Red Cross which got an A+ on the above list.]
[ January 02, 2005, 03:36 AM: Message edited by: Narnia ]
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I was talking to my mom (the one who said I must have turned off my brain when I converted to LDS) about why I decided to give to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund and guess what? She's going to give to them as well! How about that? I was really excited to see such concrete evidence that her attitude about the church is turning around.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Cool!
As a side note the LDS Humanitarian representatives from Salt Lake City arrived last week and have already met with the President of Sri Lanka. Not sure what plans are being made, but things are moving forth nevertheless.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
Is there anyone out there who would be interested in making a "Hatrack Forum" collection to give to the International Red Cross to aid the Tsunami victims?
I know that lots of us (including me) have already donated to the relief effort, but as was mentioned in another thread -- there is something special about the things we do as a community. Giving a gift as a community mean something not only about us as individuals but also about us as a community. It would help us to build a culture of generosity. It would mean that generosity is one of the things that define us as a community?
If there is interest, I will be glad to coordinate it just like I did with the First Book donation.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Rabbit, yes, count me in. Also I plan to give blood. Somehow just money doesn't seem to be enough, you know?
Looking around the Red Cross site, I don't see that they are calling for blood specifically for the tsunami victims, but reports say there are many people maimed and wounded, and if they can get medical care to them at all then it makes sense that they would need more blood than usual. I think I will give tomorrow, just in case. I'm sure they can use it.