# Donate to the Typhoon Haiyan Fund: Government matching



## none (Jan 15, 2013)

I just though I would throw this out there. I know there are some people with some extra cash lying around and would like to help those in need.

The Government is now matching donations to the Typhoon Haiyan Fund. I think this is a great way to do it as it allows Canadians to decide where federal money is going.

Anyway, I'm in for $300.

_Here is the red cross link: http://www.redcross.ca/donate/donate-online/donate-to-the-typhoon-haiyan-fund_


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

the problem with donations is that usually half of them go to people who collect them, i would rather donate personal items


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

Although well intentioned donating personal items is usually worse than donating nothing at all. See here: http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/other-ways-to-give/donating-goods

We are talking about the red cross here. Assuming the Canadian red cross is similar to the US 91% of the money gets directly to victims. See here: http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/24/pf/donations-charities/


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

alingva said:


> the problem with donations is that usually half of them go to people who collect them, i would rather donate personal items


Thanks a lot for that comment. It prompted me to do some internet sleuthing and come across a fantastic TED talk about overhead and charities.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Yes, the practice of rating charities by how much overhead they take has been thoroughly debunked and demonstrated to be baseless -- some of the most effective charities in the world have relatively high overhead rates, while some charities that take very little overhead accomplish almost nothing of consequence. Overhead percentage has virtually nothing to do with effectiveness.

See for example Carolyn Fiennes' book here: http://giving-evidence.com/book3/

and http://giving-evidence.com/2013/05/02/admin-data/

And for a general debunking of common myths about aid to developing countries, see this:

http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/why-give/myths-about-aid


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

no way I would give goods to this region shipping costs would be crazy.I always give to Doctors Without Borders


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

brad said:


> Yes, the practice of rating charities by how much overhead they take has been thoroughly debunked and demonstrated to be baseless -- some of the most effective charities in the world have relatively high overhead rates, while some charities that take very little overhead accomplish almost nothing of consequence. Overhead percentage has virtually nothing to do with effectiveness ...


I don't know that I'd go as far as baseless. For some of the solicitation letters that I've received - buried in the fine print is the statement that the for-profit promotion company the charity contracted with is receiving 80% or more of the funds donated.


Cheers


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Eclectic12 said:


> I don't know that I'd go as far as baseless. For some of the solicitation letters that I've received - buried in the fine print is the statement that the for-profit promotion company the charity contracted with is receiving 80% or more of the funds donated.


Yeah, I guess "baseless" is an exaggeration, but it's just not a good idea to say that Charity A must be better than Charity B because Charity A's overhead costs are lower. There are charity evaluators out there, and it's worth referring to their reviews before making a donation. 

In the spirit of matching, I just doubled none's contribution and gave $600 to the Canadian Red Cross's Haiyan Fund. With the Canadian government's matching, that means the two of us have effectively contributed $1,800 to the relief effort. 

If anyone else feels comfortable posting their donation here we could tally them up!


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

$840


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

none said:


> Although well intentioned donating personal items is usually worse than donating nothing at all.


The issue is that quite often people try to use the donation centers as a cheap garbage dump and that's not cool. The biggest single cost for Goodwill stores if I an not mistaken is waste disposal.

Clean, new, safe to transport items would be a breeze and very beneficial, and sending them in the large container as part of the large quantity would be very inexpensive.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Homerhomer said:


> Clean, new, safe to transport items would be a breeze and very beneficial, and sending them in the large container as part of the large quantity would be very inexpensive.


It's still not a good idea, though, even if the intentions are well meaning. Here's some clear advice from the University of Pennsylvania's Center for High Impact Philanthrophy:

"Disaster relief is difficult, often specialized work that requires experience in previous disaster situations and a high level of coordination. Many donors are moved to donate items such as food, clothes, or blankets, but those well-intentioned efforts may be unhelpful as they require recipient organizations to manage a secondary supply chain for donations. Instead of providing items, you can best help by providing financial donations to first-responder nonprofits. Such donations allow first responders to purchase and deliver exactly what is needed quickly and cost-effectively, responding flexibly as needs on the ground change." - See more at: http://www.impact.upenn.edu/blog/page/philippines_typhoon_how_can_i_help


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

brad said:


> It's still not a good idea, though, even if the intentions are well meaning. Here's some clear advice from the University of Pennsylvania's Center for High Impact Philanthrophy:
> 
> "Disaster relief is difficult, often specialized work that requires experience in previous disaster situations and a high level of coordination. Many donors are moved to donate items such as food, clothes, or blankets, but those well-intentioned efforts may be unhelpful as they require recipient organizations to manage a secondary supply chain for donations. Instead of providing items, you can best help by providing financial donations to first-responder nonprofits. Such donations allow first responders to purchase and deliver exactly what is needed quickly and cost-effectively, responding flexibly as needs on the ground change." - See more at: http://www.impact.upenn.edu/blog/page/philippines_typhoon_how_can_i_help


Good point, especially when the help is needed right then and quick.

But I would still think that donating items can be very helpful in non disaster reliefs or in a follow up situations, those people will need anything they can get for months if not longer.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Homerhomer said:


> But I would still think that donating items can be very helpful in non disaster reliefs or in a follow up situations, those people will need anything they can get for months if not longer.


That might be true but it would be best if you worked with a charity that knows what people actually need. Sometimes there's an oversupply due to donations, kind of like when you have a potluck supper and everyone brings dessert and there's no main course.

I donate money to a local nonprofit here that collects used bicycles, fixes them up, and sends them to developing countries. A bike can serve as an ambulance, a means to make a living, transportation for food and work, etc.. But a lot of people donate their old 10-speeds, which are pretty much useless in most developing countries due to the narrow tires and other issues. The charity ends up selling those to help finance their operations, but it takes time for them to deal with those bikes.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Pretty much completely OT but my everyday commuting bike is an Africa bike from Kona, designed for the delivery of antiretroviral HIV drugs in the sub-Sahara. http://2011.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=africabike_three


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

Thank you for this thread, and I donated. I agree that the best thing to do is money, as shipping personal items is too late and often not what they need. What they need, especially remote cut off areas, is food and water. 

I believe the method of delivery immediately after a disaster should be as described in the article at this link:

http://pushback.com/2010/01/air-drop-food-and-water-packets-on-haiti/

Unfortunately that method is rarely used, and many people die waiting two weeks or more for food.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

So far when you count the matching, CMF members have effectively donated more than $3,500 to the effort. Can we get it up to $4,000? Any takers? ;-)


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## PrairieGal (Apr 2, 2011)

You can put me down for $100. Every little bit helps.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

PrairieGal said:


> You can put me down for $100. Every little bit helps.


That's great -- this translates to $200 with the matching. Even $5 or $10 helps.

Anyway now with PrairieGal's contribution we're up to more than $3,700 (I'm saying "more than" since at least one person didn't say what they donated, which is fine, we don't need to know).


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

We donate $200 a month to red cross and have since the 2004 Tsunami. I donated $500 from my business and $500 personally today.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

marina628 said:


> We donate $200 a month to red cross and have since the 2004 Tsunami. I donated $500 from my business and $500 personally today.


Yay for marina! With the government matching we are now up to $5,700.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We donate cash. 

Charities know what they need, and they can typically buy things at a much better price than I can.

We never give food to the local food bank. It is far too expensive for them to pick it up, etc. If you give the equivalent in cash to organizations like the food bank they will buy far more with it than you can, have less overhead, and they will be able to buy exactly what their clients require. It is a much more efficient way of giving.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

$500 here. So we're up to $6,700.


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

Throw me down for another $100 - no government matching on this one though as it is an EU charity.

Update: $6800


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Cool, this is impressive!


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## BETTYVEE (Dec 23, 2009)

I have a friend in Australia that wants to donate through a canadian charity (to maximize with the matching) does anyone know if that will work?


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

Only way to do it would be for her to give you the money and you donate it on her behalf.

If you want to be totally above board on this you should use this and give her a 5 month loan and (assuming that you've given nothing to charity for arguments sake) donate $125 if she gives you $100 as you get about a 25% tax credit (depending on province).

Really, it's better than a match, you donate effectively $100 after refunds and $250 foes to victims. Pretty sweet.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/dnrs/svngs/clmng1b2-eng.html


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I've already sent my main donation to Doctors Without Borders, but I'll add another $100 to this, just to be included!


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

Karen: Doctors without Borders counts - it receives the matching money from the feds, as long as you directed it to the Typhoon Fund.

$300 here - to Doctors without Borders, too.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

Yes, I knew that wendi1. They are definitely one of my favourite charities, and I sent them money as soon as I heard about the typhoon. What I meant was that, although I had intended that to be my Typhoon donation, I would donate another $100 to the Red Cross, and I've now done that!


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

awesome!


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## AlbertaBoy (Mar 21, 2013)

$150 here. With Company matching and a government match its $450


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Opening balance: $6,800
wendi1: $600
Karen: $200
Alberta Boy: $450

Total: $8,050. Wow!


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## Asterix (Jul 19, 2012)

$20 here, so $40 with the government matching. Every amount helps!


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## KrissyFair (Jul 8, 2013)

I love this thread guys!

I used to do disaster relief for the Red Cross. After the Haitian earthquake we went non-stop to support the overseas teams, and it was all volunteer time. I didn't read the articles, but in case this wasn't included, cash is better than goods because many orgs try to purchase ongoing supplies from areas surrounding the disaster zone so that the local economy gets an infusion that boosts their longterm resilience.

Anyway, we're down for $200


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