MY SPECIALTIES:
In less than 2 weeks, 2M+ refugees have fled Ukraine. The UN Refugee Agency projects up to 4 million people may flee in total and another 6.7M people will be internally displaced if fighting continues. Christian ministries from around the world have responded to the crisis by providing emergency aid. Below is a list of 4 organizations who are uniquely positioned to bring help and hope to suffering Ukrainians on the ground.
With increased competition, the pressure on nonprofits to invest more in fundraising has brought about better marketing materials, more development staff, and stronger donor pitches. This trend has made it harder for even the smartest donors to tell the difference between hearing a good story and identifying the right place to make a big gift.
Reinventing Philanthropy gets under your skin like a dentist’s advice to floss. You know in your head you should do it but don’t always feel like taking the time. Eric Friedman simply wants giving to be effective. What does that mean? He wants people to engage in thinking critically about the world’s greatest needs and our best solutions. He is frustrated. “Giving is too often about making the donor feel better and too infrequently about making those in need better” (12). So Friedman wants to reinvent philanthropy and make the new normal—utilitarian, issue-agnostic donors who support charities offering “the greatest help to the greatest number of people” (182). How does Friedman motivate donors to practice high-impact philanthropy?
Where can donors get answers to their questions about charity efficiency and effectiveness? Nonprofit Analytics. Nonprofit Analytics now publishes up-to-date answers to the most common questions donors ask.
No other online platform tackles all these important questions. Only Nonprofit Analytics presents up-to-date nonprofit performance in one simple page. Nonprofit Analytics still offers 160 data points about leadership, finances, strategy and impact via downloadable 2-page nonprofit Analytical Overviews for paid subscribers. However, donors who want the highlights without all the numbers and trend lines can now get what they want for free. Nonprofit Analytics’s 2013 release of nonprofit effectiveness and efficiency data finally makes it possible to give wisely without investing much time.
In February 2010, United Property Distributors donated 100 caskets to Haiti to help bury the dead. They had good intentions. They wanted to comfort the living by providing a proper burial for the dead. They ended up killing jobs. Their donation of caskets coincided with the downturn of orders to Maxima S.A. – a cabinet and casket making business in Haiti.
Thankfully, Maxima S.A. knew how to adapt and had international business mentors (thanks to an organization called Partners Worldwide) who could help. Maxima S.A. received advice and training from a company in Holland, MI (PorterCorp) on how to make transitional panel housing that meets international standards for a family of 5. The company quickly grew from 60 Haitian employees to 260 Haitian employees who have played an important role in the rebuilding phase for Haiti. Unfortunately, the story of well-meaning donations of goods that actually kill local economies is a common tale that has crippled Haiti and handicapped almost every country in Africa.
Many of us still remember the rapid outburst of violence in Kenya at the beginning of 2008. Hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes, and thousands confirmed dead and hospitalized. I want to tell you a brief story about a few Kenyans who were affected and the unlikely men that stepped in to fund the rebuilding of their lives. The story is reminiscent of the widow whom Jesus himself admired as she gave her last two coins (Luke 21:1-4).
Do you feel the pain of those less fortunate and wonder what you have to give? Often the average person who wants to help has trouble figuring out a feasible action plan. The following 10 ideas should provide anyone with plenty of simple paths towards giving within your means.