In the meantime, the deadline for the Troppo-Quiggin dollar-for-dollar offer has passed. But of course anyone who wishes to announce further contributions of their own is encouraged to do so. Philanthropic competition is healthy.

They did say the amount raised so far was about $3.5m, which was only the six agencies there — which didn’t include World Vision — or govt contributions.

(Bpay rocks, but MSF doesn’t have it.)

I think I will give the money to a foundation for the homeless that my work also supports.

My friends and I have donated $1750 to a small group in Yangon that is assisting victims of Nargis. I will email you the details.
Thanks,

Abby

My friends and I have donated $1750 to a small group in Yangon that is working to get food, water and assistance to victims of Nargis. I will email you the details.

Thanks,

Abby

$200 to MSF.

d.

$i00.00 to CARE Australia.

Margaret

Simon Rumble, there’s a way around those “muggers” who approach people on city streets to join up: find a local group (in the case of Amnesty) or try the website of the charity. I agree: cut out the middle man [or the middle backpacker ]

cheerio

I prefer to donate money to those that make an effort to convince me that their cause is worthwhile!

The issue for me is that many of these charity mugging companies take as much as the first year of direct debit donations as their fee for signing up the donator! If you’re worried about money actually getting to those in need, this should make you very suspicious.

Donated $100 through avaaz.

Thanks for what you’re doing.

Donated $100 through avaaz.

Thanks for what you’re doing.

like world vision, TEAR is a christian organisation; if you don’t mind that, i think their approach and practice is quite good. they are known for the ‘worlds most useful gifts’ catalogue.

As far as the “throwing money” argument goes – you’re right that it won’t fix Burma’s long standing issues with poverty and a lack of democracy, but when it’s a case of lives being saved and infrastructure being rebuilt after a natural disaster, then money is pretty obviously going to be needed. If you don’t have the cash to spare, then just leave it at that. No-one’s going to criticise you for not giving what you don’t have.

Burma today said it was not ready to let in foreign aid workers, rejecting international pressure to allow experts into the isolated nation where disease and starvation are stalking cyclone survivors.

One week after the devastating storm killed tens of thousands, Burma’s ruling generals – deeply suspicious of the outside world – said the country needed outside aid for those still alive but would deliver it themselves.

Charities which succumb to this pressure and simply give aid to the Burma junta for distribution would simply be putting it into the pockets of the generals and their supporters, which is certainly something I’m not prepared to do. The CARE Australia website, however, states that it has 500 aid workers in Burma in any event, so presumably it will be distributing aid through them direct to the people who need it, rather than simply giving it to the regime. Nevertheless I’ve emailed CARE and I’ll convey any response I receive. I’m not myself going to hand over my pledged donation until I’m reasonably sure that it will reach people in need and not be stolen by their oppressors.

Im not one to blithely commit my hard earned to seemingly bureaucratic organisations which use more than half of all donations to keep themselves fluid.

You got some references there Niall, cause it sounds to me you like don’t know shit about charities and international aid organisations to be honest.

To be classified as a charity in Australia there are some very strict reporting requirements.

Furthermore, the organisations recommended are very up front about where the money goes, e.g:

Care: What are CARE Australia’s administration overheads?
Over the last eight years around 90 per cent of our total income from the Australian public and all other sources has been spent on work in the field, rather than on administration overheads.

MSF: 5% admin, 13% fundraising, 82% programme activities.

Oxfam: Where does the money go?
Oxfam Australia’s management standards stipulate that a minimum of 85% of funds raised froe programs. The remaining 15% covers costs associated with advertising and promoting our appeals, operating our toll free phone room, processing and receipting donations and audit and financial accountability costs associated with verifying expenditure of these funds in our annual accounts.

For all other appeals, 81 cents in every dollar donated goes directly to our program work overseas and in Australia. 5 cents is spent on administration and reserves, while 14 cents is used to increase donated income through marketing and fundraising. m all our emergency appeals must be used directly for our emergency response.

And that’s just for starters. If you don’t want to donate, that’s cool, but don’t dress it up in some kind of ethical concern about where the money goes, that’s total bullshit, and ignorant in the extreme.

As someone who has worked, and had a long term interest in the aid sector, this is a commonly held preconception often used as a convenient foil to avoid feeling guilty, and it really irritates me. People in aid agencies work incredibly hard, for far less than they should be getting paid (a ‘donation’ most of us would shudder to comprehend; when I moved out of the NGO sector, my salary went up 40%) – sometimes for nothing at all.

It’s very easy to ascertain whether a charity is good or not. I suggest you educate yourself about it before making anymore sweeping assumptions.