An article from today’s USA Today addresses how the crisis in Haiti has affected donations to non-profits. They interviewed GiveForward President, Desiree Vargas, to see what changes we’ve noticed on the site. The article notes t
hat despite massive funds being directed toward aid in Haiti, most non-profits and other causes did not suffer. There was a worry that donations to Haiti would negatively affect other causes, but Desiree believes that Haiti possibly awoke the philanthropic spirit in some. She says “it seems to me that people were thinking of the crisis in Haiti and looking around to their neighbors to see who is in need around them. Maybe they were in the spirit of giving because of Haiti.”
Haiti Donations Don’t Bleed Dry Other Causes
by Jessica Durando
Despite concerns that the outpouring of donations for Haitiwould cut into funding for other causes, executives of non-profits across the USA say they have managed to keep up with other needs.”It seems to me that people were thinking of the crisis in Haiti and looking around to their neighbors to see who is in need around them. Maybe they were in the spirit of giving because of Haiti,” says Desiree Vargas, president of GiveForward.org, an online fundraising site.
Vargas says only 3% of donations via the organization’s website went to Haiti fundraisers in the two months following the Jan. 12 earthquake. Two of the largest donations during that time period, totaling $121,000, went to helping two cancer patients.
Angel Aloma, executive director of Food for the Poor, says most of January’s donations were targeted for Haiti relief. But the following month the non-profit got back on track with steady contributions to other causes.
“In the short run, I think Haiti is out of the limelight, so people have gone back to their normal giving based on what their affinity is,” Aloma says.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University expects the trend for Americans to give small dollar amounts in times of disaster will apply to Haiti, Executive Director Patrick Rooney says. The center doesn’t have specifics for Haiti, but Rooney says the median household donation after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 was $50.
“We don’t think it displaces giving to other charities. People have this empathetic response and they give what they think they can give,” he says.
Two-thirds of Americans contributed to relief efforts after Katrina and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the Center on Philanthropy. Slightly more than one-quarter responded to the tsunami.
Donations to relief for each of these disasters from individuals, corporations and foundations accounted for less than 1% of giving in the respective year, according to Giving USA Foundation.
Giving to disaster relief is short-lived, Rooney says. It tends to decrease over six months and approaches zero after a year.
“We haven’t seen any indication that people were saying, ‘I’m not giving to your local chapter because I’m giving to Haiti,’ ” says Jonathan Aiken, spokesman for the American Red Cross.
At the Red Cross, money is allocated for core programs such as services to the armed forces, blood drives and CPR classes in the annual budget so they are not affected by people donating to international disasters such as Haiti, he says.
“Donor fatigue can happen and it is a legitimate concern,” Aiken says. “But I haven’t seen a direct corollary of Haiti sucking the air out of the room and taking all the interest out of the things we do.”
Donations so far for Haiti — $409 million — compare with the $2 billion given to the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina and over half a billion for the 2004 tsunami, Aiken says.
Some local branches of non-profits have suffered minor setbacks as Americans asked that donations be designated for Haiti.
The Greater New York Salvation Army fell 11%-12% short of its financial goals for local programs from Jan. 15-Feb. 28, says Denver Frederick, the non-profit’s director of development.
Frederick says the non-profit recovered in March and regained its focus on a three-year, $100 million campaign for services for New Yorkers.
“People take a pause and then regroup,” Frederick says. “In the long run, I think people will come around in terms of their local communities.”
Some non-profits, such as Doctors Without Borders, specifically asked donors to stop giving to Haiti so they could focus their efforts elsewhere.
Tierney says Doctors Without Borders received an amazing outpouring of support for Haiti — $61 million — but the continued focus has to be on medical needs for the other 70 countries the non-profit serves.
AmeriCares President Curt Welling says the Haitian earthquake actually brought increased awareness to other causes around the world, creating a “halo effect.”
“When something happens that shines a light on a difficult place like Haiti, it gives you a real-time ability to shine the donor light on ongoing causes,” Welling says.
The Salvation Army Southern California Division held a “Million Meals for Haiti” event in Bell, Calif., on March 12-13. About 1,500 volunteers packed food donated by hunger relief organization Numana to be shipped to the region.
Although the Salvation Army will continue to post Haiti information on its website, spokesman Robert Brennan says, “our focus (now) will shift back to the needs in Southern California.”
And the banana thing? Ethan says it isn’t just some silly gimmick (well, maybe partly). He says it’s a great way to get strangers to donate money. During his training runs, he wears the costume and passes out fliers to strangers detailing his goal and how to donate money. How can you not help out a dude in a banana costume?!
With well over 25 years of experience as a communications professional, Lori Hope is a leading authority on cancer support and the author of “
