Donating money is a valuable philanthropic act that brings people from all over the globe together for a common cause. Although done with good intentions, sometimes the lack of knowledge on what charities to donate to and what to donate prevent people from doing so. Fundraising and donating must be done with strategy and accountability.
“I’ve never felt this level of desperation in my entire life for any reason, like I feel right now and I feel like if I am involved in helping to create things like the New Jersey Project, it’s the best that I can do right now,” said Maria Vizcarrondo, executive director of the Nerney Learning Institute at Cabrini University, as she talks about her family home of Puerto Rico.
Vizcarrondo was the president of United Way for the city of New Jersey for over 15 years. She was able to work with strategic leaders in disaster recovery and services like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to help fundraise money for catastrophic events like 9/11 and a number of natural disasters throughout the years.
Vizcarrondo is also working with NJ4PR in New Jersey with other leaders to get the people of Puerto Rico the aid they so desperately need as fast as possible.
“If you’re going to set up a fund partner with an organization like the United Way or disaster relief, they have the mechanisms in place to know how to manage the money and be accountable for it,” Vizcarrondo said.
Gofundme accounts have been seen all over the internet in attempts to fundraise as much money as possible as fast as possible. The issue that arises with Gofundme accounts is that owners of the accounts later do not know how to get the money raised from point A to point B. Agencies where money can be sent and received may be out of service. The whereabouts of the money once it is received is ultimately unknown.
“If you did it out of the goodness of your heart how much time and responsibility you want to take for being audited by the federal government about how you spent that money. That’s when people get in trouble,” Vizcarrondo said.
Organizations like United Way, Red Cross and Salvation Army already have a system in place that holds them accountable for the whereabouts of money raised. These strategic leaders in disaster recovery and service have established relationships with agencies on ground, such as the Boys and Girls Club in Puerto Rico, that directly serve victims and survivors and have a great sense of where money can be spent.
Gofundme accounts that partner up with foundations that can be accountable must also inform donors where specifically the donation is going towards. Donors must be aware to what their donation is contributing to otherwise the concern of how the money was spent will arise.
The public has been questioning the Red Cross on how money that is donated is spent. Red Cross is accused by the public of not spending the money that is donated to long-term problems such as rebuilding the community. As well as being accused of spending the money donated to multiple disasters instead of individual ones.
Vizcarrondo explains that what most donors do not understand about foundations like the Red Cross is that money is divided according to what disaster has the greatest need at that given time unless you designate your donation to a specific disaster. Regardless of that there is administrative cost that covers travel, housing and food for these volunteers.
When discussing her experience with fundraising, Vizcarrondo explained the two stages that donations go to rescue and recovery, which is short-term, and aftermath, which is long-term.
“[United Way] used to raise money for rescue and recovery, which is usually the emergency, and then we would raise money for the aftermath, which, is longer and harder to raise money for because at that point people get tired. They don’t realize that it takes a long time to get over natural disasters,” said Vizcarrondo.
Red Cross specializes on short-term emergencies while the United Way focuses on both short-term and long-term and the Salvation Army focuses on long-term.
“[Red Cross] doesn’t do development work or specialize in rebuilding destroyed neighborhoods. What it does best is provide immediate assistance—often in the form of blankets, hygiene kits, or temporary shelter,” wrote Jonathan M Katz, a reporter of Slate, in his article “The Red Cross won’t Save Houston.”
Katz admitted to no longer donating to the Red Cross after coming to the realization that the Red Cross does not specialize in rebuilding destroyed neighborhoods but Katz does realize that the Red Cross provided immediate assistance. All in all, the Red Cross accomplishes what the foundation specializes on.
The misinformation is common within the public on what foundations specialize on after disasters. The Salvation Army is ideal for donations that want to go to the rebuilding of a community after a disaster. The Red Cross is appropriate for donations that want to go first responders.
“People in disaster areas need money. They don’t need our old t-shirts, blankets or bottled water that we spend too much money shipping to them. We need to give money to organizations that can then spend it locally; they get the best prices on goods, they jumpstart the local economy and they allow people to buy what is actually needed,” said Tom Southward, executive director of the Wolfington Center at Cabrini University, with 15 years of experience coordinating fundraisers.
Financial donations are preferred over supplies and food donations.
The public comes together to gather supplies and food for those affected by disasters. Although the intention is good, the humanitarian act is not received by those affected due to the complexity of moving the trucks and storage units.
Federal Emergency Management Agency is bombarded with supplies and food that has been donated but has been placed on hold due to the process FEMA has to go about spending shipments.
The people of the foundations located in the affected areas are more knowledgeable on what those affected by disasters need. Because donors of supplies and food are not witnessing the catastrophic events, they are unaware of what supplies are beneficial and which are not a priority at the time.
Vizcarrondo said, “You don’t want them sending all kinds of stuffed animals, especially in Puerto Rico right now. What do you do with stuffed animals? People need food, water, they need their power back, they need their phones. By giving money you are letting the disaster relief people use that money where they know it needs to be spent.”
