Nepal Earthquake
In response to the major earthquake in Nepal, at least 15 Canadian charities are fundraising to provide disaster relief. Natural disasters are a time when Canadians respond generously. Given the urgency to quickly get aid there, donors do not have much time or information to assess these giving decisions. The sheer number of charities fundraising gives donors choices. And your choice matters. Different charities have different areas of expertise and different track records in delivering disaster relief. This donor brief is to help you give intelligently.
At this time, please remember disaster relief is very different from international development. Disaster relief requires speed and expertise to most efficiently meet the needs of Nepal. This is not the time to send a goat.
In disaster relief, we feel it is important to help all people. Our recommendations emphasize charities working with all in need, not just women or children. With earthquakes, the highest priority emergency needs are typically medical, shelter and debris removal. After the emergency, there is a need for infrastructure rebuilding.
– specialist in medical emergency as local hospitals are over-whelmed and many people are injured, requiring immediate medical care beyond first aid
– expertise in shelter and on the ground in Nepal
In our assessment of the limited facts at this time, Nepal’s needs are moderate relative to the Haitian Earthquake of 2010 and in-line with the Philippines Typhoon. The earthquake affected a much smaller population of people than the natural disasters in the Philippines and in Haiti. We anticipate strong community resilience to build back, making disaster relief donations effective.
Each natural disaster is horrific and needs to be assessed individually on where the need is greatest, the magnitude of the devastation. This table provides quick context for donors.
Donors Tips for Giving to Nepal Earthquake
1. Give to a registered charity. Donating on-line through charities’ websites by-passes scoundrels on the street who have exploited disaster situations in the past. That said, if you have family in Nepal, give directly to those you know in need. Canada’s local Haitian and Filipino communities were highly effective in quickly getting aid to their families at home.
2. Disaster relief requires different giving. Disaster relief is radically different from international development. In Nepal’s situation, aid workers are assessing the needs. In past earthquake disasters, the greatest needs have been medical expertise, ruble removal (opening roads and clearing sites), and shelter.
3. Hold charities accountable. Donors need to give now for the emergency response without much information. Most charities are accountable and publish reports on their response 6 months and one year after the disaster. These reports give donors essential information about the emergency performance of each charity. Charity Intelligence reads these reports. These reports provide an excellent track record of a charity’s disaster response. Of great interest is how quickly a charity spends donations. In emergencies, speed matters. Each charity has a different balance between emergency relief and long-term development aid.
From this assessment of Nepal’s situation and prior research, these are Ci’s Top Picks:
http://charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/81-doctors-without-borders Doctors Without Borders Canada has rapid fast response time. In Haiti and the Philippines typhoon, Doctors Without Borders was first on the ground. Doctors Without Borders focuses on emergency medical aid. In earthquakes, medical needs typically require setting broken bones, amputations and surgery, far surpassing basic first aid. With the number of people reported injured, Nepal’s local hospitals are overwhelmed with injured people.
Doctors Without Borders does emergency work fast. It spends most of the donations it receives within 6 months of the disaster; in the Philippine disaster relief, it spent 52% of donations in the first 3 months, and a total of 77% of donations in the first year. After the emergency response, Doctors Without Borders hands over its field hospitals to local health services and leaves.
Doctors Without Borders has taken a contrarian approach not to launch a Nepal fundraising campaign. Its relief efforts are funded by unrestricted donations. This gives Doctors Without Borders greater flexibility in using donations to respond to other emergencies.
http://charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/33-world-vision-canada World Vision Canada, even though it is Canada’s largest charity and with a primary focus on international development, responded quickly and efficiently in disaster relief in Haiti and the Philippines. In response to the Haitian earthquake, World Vision spent 31% of donations in the first 6 months and 55% of donations in the first 9 months #_edn1 [i].
Before the earthquake, World Vision was on the ground in Nepal working in three communities: Butwal, and Doti East and Achham East on the far western border (not in the epicentre zone). World Vision has been in Nepal since 1982. We believe this local knowledge will get aid quickly where it is needed most. World Vision is targeting its efforts on 100,000 people in the affected areas of Lamjung, Lalitpur, Gorkha and other parts of the Kathmandu Valley. World Vision will focus on providing temporary shelter and distributing non-food items.
In prior disaster relief efforts, World Vision provided direct cash transfers to victims. Research shows this is a highly effective and cost efficient way to deliver emergency aid. Unconditional cash transfers to the people affected by the earthquake lets them buy the relief items they need. Cash transfers get aid where it is needed faster than charities can arrive in the communities to assess the damage and appropriate response. Also direct cash helps local markets and local producers.
Another highly effective program we will be listening for is paying people to help get the cleanup done. This worked well in the Philippines, gets debris cleared and roads opened, and helps communities get back on their feet.
http://www.unhcr.ca/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency. In past disaster relief responses, providing shelter was one of the most pressing needs. In Haiti, 4 years after the earthquake, 250,000 people still live in tarp camps. This homeless situation is a disaster long after the earthquake. Providing shelter is essential. UNHCR has expertise in delivering temporary shelter. This will be critical before Nepal’s rainy season between May and September. UNHCR is already on the ground in Nepal.
UNHCR is a new recommendation and, at this time, Charity Intelligence does not have a history of UNHCR’s disaster response. We will be watching with interest to see if UNHCR deploys the innovative IKEA Foundation shelter huts in Nepal rather than UN tents that typically only last 6 months.
Canadian Charities Fundraising for Nepal’s Earthquake Recovery (to be added to).
| file:///C:/Users/User/Documents/Charity%20Intelligence/Research/Syrian%20Refugee%20Crisis.docx#_ftn1 Donations best meeting refugees needs: Another point for donors to consider is providing the humanitarian aid the refugees are asking for. A 2012 survey of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon[2] reported that what they wanted most were food (75%), shelter (69%), and household items/non-food items (64%) like cooking fuel, stoves and pots. Fewer refugees reported the need for education (26%) or mental health counselling (12%). Most refugee families have remained together; children are together with their parents, their most important support, and are less vulnerable. While there are many charities focused on supporting children, this is not the greatest need as self-reported by Syrian refugees. Similarly, funding education is popular with Canadian donors. Again, not the greatest need according to the refugees themselves.
funds operation through its partners in Jordan and Lebanon proving cash assistance, core relief items and protection. In Jordan, CARE’s expertise with Palestinian and Iraqi refugees is now extended to 24,000 Syrian refugee families primarily in cities[4]. In Lebanon, Care provides core relief items, food and water and sanitation.
funds programs with Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Egypt. In Beirut, CRS provides community services and HIV/AIDS programs. In Egypt, CRS provides education, education grants, and livelihood assistance. No research report or rating by Charity Intelligence.
funds its partners operations primarily in Iraq, continuing on from its efforts to address the 1980 Iran-Iraq war. In 2012 the Red Cross/Red Crescent reports visiting 38,161 people detained by Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, worked on clarifying the fate of people missing as a result of the 1990-1991 Gulf War and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, 7 operations to exhume and transfer remains. The Red Cross reports helping 11,857 female-headed households with livelihood support projects, improved access to water and primary health care. With refugees, the Red Cross helped 36,264 refugees with emergency assistance including food, water and household supplies.
is the UN agency dealing exclusively with child welfare. In Syria, UNICEF’s Back to Learning initiative aims to reach 1 million children with school supplies and help 315,000 students who aren’t attending school in 2015-2016. UNICEF is seeking $185 million to build, supply and staff new schools [6] inside Syria that it estimates will help education 1.6 million children, according to Stephen O’Brien, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. In response to the siege with water used as a war tactic, UNICEF scaled up its water trucking intervention delivering 2.5 million litres per day providing 200,000 people with clean drinking water. One major breakthrough, UNICEF was able to deliver 100,000 litres of water disinfectant to Raqqa. This will clean the water supply for more than 2 million people. It has been 18 months since supplies could reach this region.
funds operations through its international affiliates in Lebanon providing core relief, schools, food and water and sanitation.
For Syrian refugees in Lebanon, being registered to receive international support requires that they pledge not to work. If found working, they risk being repatriated to Syria. As such, some refugees choose not to register and pay a resident permit costing $200 for one year, simultaneously making them ineligible for international assistance. About Charity Intelligence: Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities for donors to be informed and give intelligently. Charity Intelligence’s website posts free reports on over 675 Canadian charities, as well as in-depth primers on philanthropic sectors like Canada’s environment, cancer, and homelessness. Today over 215,000 Canadians use Charity Intelligence’s website as a go-to source for information on Canadian charities and have downloaded over 1.7 million charity reports. Through rigourous and independent research, Charity Intelligence aims to assist Canada’s dynamic charitable sector in being more transparent, accountable and focused on results.
. Have Impact. Reference sources: [2 file:///C:/Users/User/Documents/Charity%20Intelligence/Research/Syrian%20Refugee%20Crisis.docx#_ftnref2 ] http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/partner.php?OrgId=58″ target=”_blank” rel=”alternate http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/partner.php?OrgId=58 2012 survey by World Vision in Lebanon. Rating MethodologyCharity Intelligence’s mission is to help donors answer their key questions and to provide information to allow better informed giving decisions. Donors have told us that they want a quick summary of the charities that they are interested in. To provide this summary, we have created a star rating that ranges from 0 to 5 stars. All of the information that goes into a charity star rating is available to donors if they wish to dig into the details; however, these star ratings will give donors an initial place to start. Program Cost Coverage (15% of Star Rating)
Charity salaries Charity Intelligence uses the words “salary” and “pay” interchangeably to represent compensation. Here’s the https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/t4033/t4033-completing-registered-charity-information-return.html#_Toc412013145 CRA definition of total compensation. It includes “all forms of salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, fees, and honoraria, plus the value of taxable and non-taxable benefits paid by the charity to its employees. This includes the charity’s contribution to the employee’s pension, medical or insurance plan, employer Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan and employment insurance contributions and workers’ compensation premiums.” Maybe we should change the profile page and replace “salaries” with “compensation” to be clearer. Please let us know your thoughts on this. The Facts Matter: Refuting the “Charity and Greed” emailtext-align: left; Facts refuting email blast “Charity and Greed” |
