How you can help properly during a humanitarian crisis

Keeping up with the headlines about the planet’s current humanitarian crises is not for the faint of heart. Curling into the fetal position and rocking back and forth might be one way to respond. Being part of the solution, through donations of money, supplies or direct volunteer involvement, is another.

Still, even good intentions can misfire. The American Red Cross faced criticism, through a media investigation in June, of having “failed on the ground,” in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The joint report by NPR and Pro Publica said the organization had taken in nearly half a billion dollars in donations, yet built only six permanent homes and squandered some of the other funds (the Red Cross has disputed the story and says it rehoused 100,000 people). Problems such as inappropriate aid, rivalries between aid agencies and newly-created but inexperienced groups arriving to pitch in were also noted in a report about the response to the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster.

So how can the average person be smart about helping?

The first thing to do is to decide what kind of help to give. Sending food, medicine or clothing is usually not a great idea because the combined costs of shipping and import taxes can add up to more than they’re worth. It can also take a long time before shipped goods reach their recipients, between transportation time and clearing customs in places where officials are already under huge pressures. That makes sending money your best bet because it can be converted into whatever is needed on the ground, at a cheaper price, sourced as locally as possible.

Once that’s figured out, the next question is who will use the money well. While large aid organizations may at times come under fire for not responding effectively, charity lawyer Mark Blumberg counsels that they are nevertheless a good choice when it’s hard to know who is in the best position to help. Smaller organizations can do a good job and be more nimble, but require prospective donors to do more homework and usually don’t face the same public scrutiny as those with a big brand to defend.

“Give to a reputable group … probably a prominent group that has significant international connections, that has experience in disaster relief operations,” said Blumberg, whose Toronto-based law firm, Blumberg Segal LLP, created the website www.smartgiving.ca to provide information on what to look for in a charity and how to avoid being scammed.

Sometimes that may not work if an organization is not already operating in the affected area, so keep an eye out for that too. After a catastrophic cyclone in Myanmar in 2008, aid groups had trouble getting visas to enter the country. However Save the Children, a client of Blumberg’s, already had about 500 personnel in the area prior to the cyclone and were able to react quickly. Likewise, newly-created groups may not be able to organize and mobilize fast enough to effectively respond.

Even with a well-positioned, established organization, don’t expect perfection. Crises usually break out in places already weakened by corruption, poverty and a host of other problems; exactly the things that can get in the way of trying to do good, although experienced humanitarian groups do their best to prepare for them, says a former aid worker.

“To pretend you can go into a humanitarian emergency and have everything pre-planned and to expect orderly implementation exactly the way it appears on paper – you’re living in dreamland,” says Lauchlan Munro, who worked in humanitarian emergencies for UNICEF in various African regions between 1989 and 2003.

Donors should instead judge aid organizations based on, “how they avoid the most important problems and solve problems once they crop up,” said Munro, now director of the school of international development and global studies for the University of Ottawa.

The current refugee crisis in Europe creates different opportunities for helping because eventually some refugees will need resettlement support when they arrive in safe havens in Canada and other countries.

Sponsoring a refugee family to come to Canada is a substantial commitment, requiring patience and diligence to cope with the pile of paperwork needed and the many months, even years, it can take for them to arrive, not to mention the standard one year of financial and emotional support a sponsor must provide. Refugee settlement groups and the Canadian government can help potential sponsors learn what’s involved and how to get started.

Although conflicts and misunderstandings can arise in a sponsorship situation, “so many times people say, ‘This has changed my life,’ …. The relationships can be incredible,” said Brian Dyck, national migration and resettlement coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee Canada in Winnipeg.

Even if you’re not prepared to directly sponsor a refugee, you can still help them once they get here. Resettlement groups often have opportunities for volunteers to donate furniture and clothing, fundraise for a sponsored family, help out with ordinary household tasks for a newly-arrived family or help them navigate through a new and unfamiliar place. Blumberg suggests volunteering with organizations donors give money to, so they get an inside view of how the group uses donations.

And while many are fleeing, Canadians should also understand other refugees are still trying to stay as close as they can to their homes, such as in neighbouring towns or even countries like Jordan and Lebanon. In those cases, sending that cash to support humanitarian aid can help them stay in their region and keep conditions livable.

“There’s a direct correlation between the lack of humanitarian aid and people fleeing, doing dangerous things to try to get to a better place,” said Dyck, whose organization is providing that aid by working with local partners in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. “As humanitarian aid drops, they’ll get more desperate.”

In the end though, helping out is all about making things better for someone else, which should make everyone feel just a little bit better about our crazy world.

“If one follows some basic prudent stuff, like [giving] to organizations that have a reputation and infrastructure and will be held accountable, then I think that’s the best approach,” says Blumberg. “It can have a huge impact.”

Here are a few more tips to ensure your compassion hits the right target, some of which are based on a recent advisory from The Better Business Bureau of Western Ontario:

Use your Spidey sense when giving online: The internet and crowdfunding has created new opportunities for scam artists to take advantage of the well-intentioned. A government consumer alert was issued in the U.S. in 2012 warning people to be careful of online fundraisers claiming to be helping with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. If there’s a charity you know and trust, go directly to its website or donate through a recognized charity umbrella site like Canada Helps.

Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity: Canada’s Charity Intelligence, the Better Business Bureau’s Give.org, and Charity Watch in the U.S. all provide reports on charities, based on different criteria.

Be careful if they say 100 per cent of donations will assist relief victims: Charities have fundraising and administrative costs, despite what might be claimed.

Determine if the charity is providing direct aid or fundraising for other groups: Some organizations may be fundraising for others who actually provide the aid. Consider donating directly to charities that have a presence in the affected area.

Watch out for telemarketing solicitations: Unless you’ve dealt with the same charity over the phone before, avoid this, says Blumberg. Most legitimate humanitarian groups are too busy coping with the disaster to be calling for money themselves anyway.