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Putting Compassion in Action
Converting Donated Dollars into Aid for Disaster Victims
Written by
Greta Petrilla
, Special to Redcross.org
Friday, November 04, 2005 — The American Red Cross strives to turn financial gifts into action as quickly as possible to get help to those people who need it the most.
"People often hear the total of how much the American Red Cross receives in financial donations, and we work to make sure the public knows how the money is expended to assist those in need," said Kara Bunte, Manager of Development Communications for the American Red Cross. "But, people may not realize what it takes to convert a financial gift into funds available for use."
On a typical, non-disaster day, the Red Cross receives approximately 1,000 donations.
"On the peak day of its response to Hurricane Katrina, the Red Cross received 943,653 donations," said Bunte. "In times of disaster, the systems that we have established to support daily donation collection activities must rapidly and efficiently expand to help support an influx of financial gifts so that assistance can get to victims quickly, and so that donations can be acknowledged and donors thanked for their generosity."
Donation Methods
According to Bunte, while there are several different ways in which people can make a donation, the majority of financial contributions to the Red Cross generally are made using one of the following three methods:
- Online through the RedCross.org Web site – Donations are made via credit card, processed electronically and the donor receives an immediate acknowledgement for tax purposes.
- Via telephone through 1-800-HELP-NOW – Donations are made via credit card, processed electronically and the donor receives an immediate acknowledgement for tax purposes, if they have given their e-mail address; otherwise, acknowledgements are sent by regular mail.
- Regular Mail – Donations are made in the form of a check or credit card and mailed to a Red Cross postal address.
Each one of these donation methods can be stretched to capacity in a matter of hours or days during a disaster.
Donation
Method
|
Average Daily
Donation Volume
(Non-Disaster)
|
Peak Donation Day
(Hurricane Katrina) |
Online Donations |
25 donations |
700,000 donations |
1-800-HELP-NOW |
4 donations |
163,653 donations |
Regular Mail |
1,000 donations |
80,000 donations |
The Red Cross appreciates each and every financial gift.
Bunte points out that donations made online or through 1-800-HELP-NOW via credit card allow for quickest access to donated funds. The donations that arrive via mail are more time-consuming and resource-intensive to process. Regular mail takes three or four days to arrive, and processing requires additional human resources to:
- Open the envelopes;
- Make copies of the checks and accompanying documentation;
- Enter data into a database from the check and accompanying documentation;
- Deposit the check; and
- Transfer donor information to a secure site from which data is pulled and donation acknowledgements are sent.
Honoring Donor Intent
To ensure that a donor’s intent is satisfied, a donor’s information must be recorded when a donation is deposited. This also allows the Red Cross to thank and acknowledge each and every donor, providing a record of receipt for tax purposes. Following major events, the Red Cross is subject to external auditing and always works to uphold the wishes of donors through the Red Cross Donor DIRECT program.
"DIRECT stands for 'Donor Intent, Recognition, Confirmation and Trust'," said Bunte. "Its purpose is to educate donors about how the Red Cross uses funds received for disaster relief services and to provide a confirmation that we are honoring the donor's reason for giving."
Scope of Hurricane Katrina and the Red Cross Response
The size of the response for the Hurricane Katrina disaster has far surpassed all other disasters the Red Cross has responded to in the past. Comparing the financial requirements to meet the needs of individuals affected, the Red Cross response to Katrina is already at least 20 times greater than for all the combined hurricanes of 2004. As a result, many Red Cross human and technological resources have been tested, and the response to Hurricanes Rita and Wilma stretch the organization even further.
More Help is Needed
To meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of affected persons, the Red Cross still requires public donations to execute its response. The organization continues to do its part to process donations quickly and efficiently to help those in need.
To date, the Red Cross has received approximately $1.3 billion in financial gifts and pledges for the hurricane relief efforts, far less than it has expended or committed to aid survivors of the recent devastating hurricanes.
"We depend on the generosity of the public to help us do what we do," she said. "We have had people working around the clock over the last couple months, providing food, shelter and other assistance to those affected by the hurricanes, and we couldn't do that without the public's support. We appreciate and put to good use every gift."
Additional information for this story was provided by Rachel Lawrence, Business Analyst for Development at the American Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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