Which is best?
catholic church - All parishes are collecting over next 2 weeks
I don’t believe you can go wrong with Samaritans Purse. Eight Days of Hope is another good organization.
We gave to Samaritan’s Purse due to their stellar track record.
They have a program called Operation Christmas Child that provides Christmas gift boxes and Gospel message to millions of kids worldwide.
Americans buy gifts and fill the boxes and send them to a local pickup place. (Chick-fil-A is one of them)
Samaritan’s Purse posted that they lost a ton (many tons) of materials that were stored in Houston and are asking people to pack an extra box this year.
We know a girl who was raised in India and now lives here. She actually still has some of the gifts she received as a child in her OCC boxes.
Samaritan’s Purse. They have an excellent track record and donations go to help the people, not some huge corporate support structure
Yesterday, our pastor announced two men we know (of) and asked if we wanted to donate, put money in an envelope marked "Harvey Help"
If you can't trust your pastor, get out of that church.
Every penny will be used for Harvey needy ... which just might be a church.
Samaritan’s Purse—by far.
Salvation Army is also very good.
Never to the Red Cross.
As a Houstonian, I’d say don’t give to Houston. There is more relief here than is really needed. The places that need help were hit by the hurricane (unlike Houston), and they are places you’ve probably not heard of, such as Refugio, Rockport, and other areas within 50-75 miles of Corpus Christi. That’s where help is needed.
As a Houstonian, I’d say don’t give to Houston. There is more relief here than is really needed. The places that need help were hit by the hurricane (unlike Houston), and they are places you’ve probably not heard of, such as Refugio, Rockport, and other areas within 50-75 miles of Corpus Christi. That’s where help is needed.
Samaritan’s Purse. By far the most effective and efficient.
Donate only to trustworthy charities, be cautious of crowd-funding efforts and “storm chasers”
Arlington, VA – The Better Business Bureau and BBB Wise Giving Alliance are advising people to help as much as they can in the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, but to do so with caution and make sure their donations get to the people who need it most.
“The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey prompts us to do what we can to help as soon as possible,” said H. Art Taylor, president and CEO of BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB’s Give.org,) “but donors need to be aware of some key cautions so that their generosity will get to those in need quickly.”
The National Weather Service reports that Hurricane Harvey has brought over 20 inches of rain to portions of southeast Texas and the volume of flooding is unprecedented for this area. And, another 15-25 inches of rain is anticipated in the days to come. As the impact of this storm on Texas communities is heart wrenching, many will seek to contribute to help those in need.
BBBs are already seeing crowdfunding appeals of a dubious nature, and in the days ahead expect to see “storm chasers” looking to make a quick buck off of clean-up efforts (bbb.org/storm). Consumers can report suspected scams to BBB Scam Tracker (bbb.org/scamtracker) or the Texas Attorney General’s hotline (800-621-0508 or consumeremergency@nag.texas.gov).
BBB Wise Giving Alliance suggests that donors keep the following tips in mind to help avoid questionable appeals for support:
The following is a list of BBB Accredited Charities (i.e., organizations that meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability) that are raising funds for Hurricane Harvey relief assistance. This list will be updated as additional relief efforts come to BBB WGA’s attention.
ALS Association / Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association
ASPCA / American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Episcopal Relief and Development
Humane Society of the United States
United Methodist Committee on Relief
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2016, people turned to BBB more than 167 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.2 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as home to its national and international programs on dispute resolution, advertising review, and industry self-regulation
ABOUT BBB WGA: BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA) is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 holistic standards that address charity governance, results reporting, finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. National charity reports are produced by the BBB WGA and local charity reports are produced by local Better Business Bureaus – all reports are available at Give.org.
What's my point? We're giving in a way that will directly impact the long term needs of those who suffer over the long term. We know the money will be used for and appreciated by those receiving our support.
Many of us have researched the best charitable organizations for disaster relief and which spend the greatest percentage of their donations directly helping people. Of the large organizations, probably the very best is the Salvation Army, and one of the worst is the Red Cross.
https://www.forbes.com/top-charities/list/
Red Cross Fraudulent Statements:
https://www.propublica.org/article/red-cross-ceo-has-been-misleading-about-donations
Salvation Army was founded in 1865 and operates in 127 countries and diaster relief is one of its major areas of expertise:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army
You can donate specifically for Harvey relief here:
https://give.salvationarmyusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=27651&mfc_pref=T&27651.donation=form1
That is my feeling as well. Some charities seem to spend a lot of their incoming funds on more fund-raising, but my impression is that Samaritan's Purse puts the vast bulk of it where it is actually needed and does the most good.
I wish I could donate to the Cajun Navy and all the individuals that actually helping.
They are America!!! And they are ones I really wish I could give my money.
Samaritans Purse, as others have said.
Here is the site that Gov Abbot recommended:
But what are the overhead rates?
Samaritan’s Purse or North American Mission Board. Both have no administrative fees taken out.
UMCOR provides donated flood buckets filled with cleanup supplies. Their instruction sheet specifies that US flag images be removed from any items or packaging. See page 2 of instructions: http://www.umcor.org/ArticleDocuments/709/Cleaning%20Kit%20Assembly%20Instructions.pdf.aspx
Samaritan’s Purse provides roof tarps, workers to muck out flooded homes, and return visits to rebuild once the homes have dried out. And they’ll pray with you. My vote: Samaritan’s Purse
Yes, because its head just pockets $1 million a year.
It is better than the Red Cross, which uses tragedy as a marketing opportunity, then diverts the money to pet causes.
What ever you do stay away from the Red Cross and United Way.
Most of their money goes to fundraising and lavish corporate pay and benefits.
I plan on scrounging some dollars to split between Samaritans Purse and the Salvation Army.
Just my two cents.