Microdonations to Japan

[asterroc]

If you can't give big, give small.

• Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross
  
• Shop Amazon using this link to donate 4%+ to Mercy Corps. (Mercy Corps gets a referral bonus of at least 4%, depending upon how much you spend.)

If you have other good links for small donations, let me know and I'll add them.

And if you can't give small, pass this information on.

Comments

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

There's a site called CharityNavigator.com that provides a list of great charitable organizations. Might be a good site to check, and Mercy Corps is listed.....

I would suggest against the donation-by-text, though. Often the money is held up for a couple billing cycles (90 days) before it gets released to the organization accounts. It's not the most efficient way for immediate-need stuff. Of course, this is going to be going on for a while, so there's plenty of time for monies to wend their way to where they're needed....

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

On the subject of charity evaluation, I'm compelled to promote GiveWell. For better or for worse, they actually have discouraging things to say about contributing to the relief effort in Japan.

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of GiveWell. Thanks! And they do have a point....And of course, there's always this influx of giving and goodwill as soon as a disaster happens, and then we all go back to our usual routines after a short period of time.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yep, Charity Navigator is my go-to site for evaluating charities before donating. Mercy Corps and Doctors Without Borders both have good ratings, and the American Red Cross is even higher.

[q10.livejournal.com]

most reputable charities will accept online donations of relatively small amounts by credit card (often the smallest radio button is in the $30-50 range, but if you click the ‘other amount button’ you can enter something lower), and some accept other online payment methods as well.

here's a donation link for the Japanese Red Cross. no specific minimum is listed, but i just tested with a 1000 Yen (less than $13.00) donation, and it went through fine. the link supports Google checkout.

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

The Japanese Red Cross released a bulletin saying that external assistance is not required and they are not seeking funds from donors.


To promote better disaster relief in general, consider donating to Doctors Without Borders.

[q10.livejournal.com]

note that that bulletin is five days old - as of a couple days later, they seem happy to accept foreign donations, although they encourage people to donate to their own national Red cross organizaiton.

MSF is emphatically seconded, and is my default for these things, and was where i'd already made a larger donation a couple of days earlier. they aren't taking earmarked relief right now, though, so if somebody really wants a reasonable assurance that this particular disaster will be where their money is spent then MSF is not the ideal target. (of course, MSF probably knows more about the relative need from different disasters than we do, but everybody has their own priorities.)

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing MSF's refusal to earmark relief for Japan is more a matter of integrity than prioritization. My loosely grounded understanding is that at this point, all funding in response to the disaster in Japan is gravy and is more likely than not getting pumped into endowments, directly or indirectly.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Good point on small donations online. I think for many people donation by text has a lower energy barrier to get over though, which is the main reason I mentioned it.

[q10.livejournal.com]

oh, absolutely. this works especially well when combined with conventional meatspace advertising (you see a sign saying to text to donate, and you can do it right then before you forget). still, online payments can be fairly convenient (at least competitive with the Amazon thing) and reasonably micro, so it seemed worth mentioning.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I personally found it works really well with podcast ads. I listen to podcasts while driving somewhere, and when I get there I whip out my cellphone and donate. For people who listen on their cellphones it's even easier.

[blahblahboy.livejournal.com]

Not to be the curmudgeon here, but is donating by text efficient? what percentage actually goes to the cause and what amt to middlemen?