Discernment urged in making relief donations

As we have already seen on television, disasters bring out the best and worst in people. Even as Americans are moved to give generously to those affected on the Gulf Coast, it is important to use some degree of discernment in where you send your money.

Here are some guidelines to make sure your gift goes where you intend it to go:

• Give via check or credit card, never cash. Even if someone is taking a collection, you should be suspicious if they do not want to take a check made out to a credible nonprofit group. Your gift is not tax deductible if the group you donate to is not a nonprofit.
• Designate your gift clearly to “Hurricane Katrina victims” or whatever your specific concerns are. If you give money to an organization without designating it specifically, it could be used for general operations.
• Be sure the organization has expertise in this work. Not every organization is prepared to respond to a domestic disaster of this scale. Domestic disasters are very different from international disasters and require personnel trained and equipped to respond.
• Look for specific plans. Don’t give to a group that is raising money for vague purposes. There should be specific plans laid out, including budget figures, types of work that will be done and some operational expertise defined. While it is too early to know the entire scope of the work, an organization should be able to give donors a sense of its capacity to absorb donations and implement the work.
• Do your homework. Check out organizations through Web sites like Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org) or GuideStar (www.guidestar.org). Both rate organizations and show how their funds are being used.
• Give to groups that are operational. There is no need to give to groups that promise to pass the funds on to others. Passing the funds through another group means they are probably taking some overhead out of the donation and there will be a delay in getting money to the victims.
• Mobilize your faith community. Talk to your pastor to find out how other faith communities similar to yours are responding. There may be specific ways to help other faith organizations better located to help the affected region. For example, faith communities in Houston; Baton Rouge, La.; and other nearby cities are already responding to displaced persons.
• Bigger may be better. While it is natural to want to feel like your gift is doing something special, a disaster of this magnitude means that resources will be used first in massive operations. It takes an established, large organization to handle early disaster response.
• Budget your giving. Give now, but also plan to give later. In the weeks to come, more specific needs will become clear. Too often, people give when they see images in the media but forget to give after the images fade.
• Don’t forget the rest of the world. Disasters happen every day. The plight of refugees, the powerlessness of the poor and the grief of the afflicted are now very clear to all of us. International donations will tend to drop during times of giving to domestic causes.

Editor’s Note — Dale Hanson Bourke is a consultant to humanitarian organizations and author of “The Skeptic’s Guide to the Global AIDS Crisis” and the upcoming “The Skeptic’s Guide to Charitable Giving.”