If a genuine going concern of a business decides to donate part of a regular ongoing profit stream, I think that is decent if they are doing it that way just to make sure they are giving what they can afford. If they are doing it to make people buy their products, I think that is vile.
A Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance spokesperson pointed out that, even if the middleman asking you to give through them is legit, the middleman is taking a skim. If you want to give, you should give directly to the charity.
I'd like to add that of course giving directly to someone you know needs help makes sense too. For example, a lot of people in the Houston gothic scene are providing temporary housing to people from the New Orleans scene. There is a town in I believe Tennessee where the local churches and suchlike basically paired local families with their counterparts from a stricken town so that people were assisting each other on a personal and direct level.
You should research what charities you want to support. Besides the BBB folks, Charity Navigator the guide for intelligent giving has a specific guide for the Katrina disaster at this link. None of these is a be-all-end-all instruction manual, but I think they have good tips.
The following is the list of charities I have been supporting:
I think that housing is going to be a really important issue for recovery. I believe the people who run this charity truly intend to do good and have a track record of success.
This is a service created by MoveOn.org for the purpose of matching up people able to put up victims of the storm with people who need a place to stay for a while. I think this is a wonderful and immediate concept to help with the immediate problem. Those donating housing can state preferences for who they would be most able to give shelter and support to i.e. gender, children, families, orphans, pets, smokers, nonsmokers, etc. Those seeking housing get an intuitive interface for searching by location and so forth.
I know some people oppose their Christian message, but I think the Salvation Army actually embodies a lot of the good love-thy-neighbor stuff which the political Christians have robbed the religion of in the public eye. I saw the Salvation Army spokesperson on CNN and was impressed with his compassion. Can't say the same for everyone I saw speak during my compulsive news-watching this past week.
Again, I was impressed by the spokesperson for America's Second Harvest on CNN. Obviously figuring out how to get food shipped to people is an immediate need and these people have a track record for doing this successfully.
I'm incredibly impressed with everything Magic Johnson has been doing as well, although the Magic Johnson Foundation is not specifically a Katrina charity. For example, he has been feeding the displaced at his Burger Kings and giving them new shoes to replace the disease-ridden cardboard some people have been walking around in. A bunch of other stuff too. I feel good that it seems like the majority of people really do want to see the right things done and so many are helping in the ways available to them.
What charities do you all like and why?
