Haiti disaster appeal follow up - there is none

Regular readers my recall that I made a load of donations to loads of charities on 19 January, including a couple of larger size donations.

I committed to telling you what happened.

Well, I have had no follow up.

In fact, WSPA who responded really fast to solicit donations have not actually receipted or thanked me direct, but did send me a non personalised (but otherwise informative) email along the lines of 'WSPA thanks everyone who donated towards our Haiti effort; your support [no mention of how much] made it possible for us to complete this first hand assessment and fund the setting up and transfer of this mobile clinic into Haiti.'

WSPA have stopped soliticing Haiti donations now; they raised enough.

But what about all the other charities? Nothing.

I am hoping that I get some follow up - a call, second gift solicitation, feedback, RG conversion - something and soon!

In the meantime (next week) I will write what I think should have happened.

Sean

Haiti Disaster appeal - what happens when I donate?

The terrible earthquake in Haiti has dominated news and conversations over the past week, and I do hope that you were able to give to help people with their immediate need.

In my last Agitator, in December I talked about what to do post disaster. But when a big disaster or emergency occurs, charities are overwhelmed. It is all hands on deck.

There is still no excuse, disaster and media type charities should be ready - it is a sad fact of life that will be a horrible disaster again, which will need our immediate help.

The American Red Cross was set up ready, with templates and plans in place. They have done brilliantly at using new media - using SMS they had raised $12m by Saturday (compared to $200k after the 2008 Hurricane season).* They had raised $87m in total by that afternoon.

The Australian Red Cross had a different tack - at first the only presence I saw was their home page highlighting the work and response of their colleagues in the USA. Their contacts with journalists came to fruition later on, with their details appearing next to news articles.

Other International Agencies got themselves onto press stories and were using Google Ads and other online devices to drive people to give to help on the ground. Google themselves were first,

with Google Ads asking for help, and trumpeting their brilliant immediate commitment of US$1m and a direct request to give to UNICEF and Concern.

I received plenty of emails from charities I donate to - first was Compassion on Wednesday night, then Christian Aid, hitting my inbox at 230am on Thursday. Plan Australia arrived Thursday evening, as did UNHCR and CBM Australia. WSPA asked me to help them rescue animals in Haiti on Friday and Kiva updated me on projects there on Saturday.

Plan USA got a chaperoned email to me (I am not a donor to them) on Saturday from the Nation Magazine asking me to give to Plan USA.

No one has sent me an SMS or called me yet.

It is hard in the face of tragedy to be hard nosed about these things, but there needs to be a methodical, tested and thorough response by us fundraisers - we need to keep a clear head and work out what people want in this kind of situation.

I have donated to all the Australian charities above, plus Christian Aid in the UK. I am keeping screen grabs of the process and will follow what happens and report back.

Sean

*Data from Chronicle of Philanthropy News Update.

You can read last month's pre-Haiti article 'Cashing in on disaster donors' here.

Should I Mail My Appeal At The Same Time as a Disaster?

The terrible events in Haiti will almost certainly be matched by substantial donations from people right now - people are good, and generous.

But what if you work for a charity that has nothing to do with emergencies abroad - and you have a campaign due to launch next week?

Should you carry on?

Regardless of the media - phone, email, mail, TV etc, the answer is almost certainly yes. All evidence we can find shows that giving goes up in a disaster - and the disaster gifts are additional.

Even if you believe income will be down if you run a campaign 'up against' a new-focused disaster - and all evidence seems to show this is the wrong conclusion - logic dictates you should still carry on.

The main reason is that for most organisations, whatever campaign that was planned was going at this time for a reason. Almost certainly there is another campaign planned after an appropriate gap.

So delaying could have much greater impacts on your communications plan than any potential drop in income right now. With 20 communications in a year, a delay by two weeks is effectively cancelling a communication. And if you think 'it won't matter to drop x communication' then you shouldn't have been sending it anyway. (Twenty communications is on the low side for most organisations - think appeals, newsletters, donor care, updates, emails, phone upgrades, surveys etc...)

However, I repeat - all evidence shows that you will make more money for your cause if you carry on than you would by delaying or cancelling.

For more numbers and details on the reasons why you should go for it check out this article - 'Tsunami Suicide and the Earthquake in China'.

Sean

Haiti Disaster appeal

Terrible news from Haiti - thousands killed, lives devastated. Please help by donating now.

For USA residents Huffington Post has a superb summary of who is doing what here.

UK, donate to DEC here.

Australians & Canadians go for MSF - they are already there. Aussies donate here. Canadians here.

Other Countries - Google Haiti Relief. Please donate if you can.

Sean