Look before you leap

[Merlin1047]

Here we go again. Americans are rushing to pull out their wallets in a frenzy of compassion and altruism. In the process, I wonder how many of them have taken the trouble to determine exactly where their money goes. Probably not very many.

I was just about ready to send a couple of hundred bucks to the tsunami relief agencies when someone here (sorry, don't recall who) posted a picture of two men carrying a litter with a dead body on it. Standing behind the litter, facing the camera was an idiot wearing an Osama tee shirt. That gave me pause. I'm not sending so much as a single red cent to any area where support for Bin Laden is predominant or even very substantial.

So while I still intend to donate, I'm going to slow down and do some research first to make sure that my money doesn't come back to haunt us.

For anyone interested in doing some research on charitable organizations, here is an excellent resource:

http://www.give.org/

I'm going to put this on a sticky for a couple of days. Hope you find it useful.

 

[no1tovote4]

Here we go again. Americans are rushing to pull out their wallets in a frenzy of compassion and altruism. In the process, I wonder how many of them have taken the trouble to determine exactly where their money goes. Probably not very many.

I was just about ready to send a couple of hundred bucks to the tsunami relief agencies when someone here (sorry, don't recall who) posted a picture of two men carrying a litter with a dead body on it. Standing behind the litter, facing the camera was an idiot wearing an Osama tee shirt. That gave me pause. I'm not sending so much as a single red cent to any area where support for Bin Laden is predominant or even very substantial.

So while I still intend to donate, I'm going to slow down and do some research first to make sure that my money doesn't come back to haunt us.

For anyone interested in doing some research on charitable organizations, here is an excellent resource:

http://www.give.org/

I'm going to put this on a sticky for a couple of days. Hope you find it useful.

Send it to Sri Lanka, they are Buddhist and Osama is not likely to be very prevalent there.

 

[freeandfun1]

Send it to Sri Lanka, they are Buddhist and Osama is not likely to be very prevalent there.

Not all of Sri Lanka is buddhist. A matter-of-fact, the photo he is referring to was taken in Sri Lanka.

 

[no1tovote4]

Not all of Sri Lanka is buddhist. A matter-of-fact, the photo he is referring to was taken in Sri Lanka.

I would seriously doubt it is extremely prevalent there. They are definitely mostly Buddhist and Hindis.

http://www.imgag.com/product/full/ap/3067907/graphic1.swf

They have only 7% Muslims on the Island.

 

[Merlin1047]

While this particular incident is what prompted me to research this, I posted it not to discourage anyone from donating, but simply to exercise some discretion as to where the money goes.

This is a good practice not only for tsunami aid, but whenever one contemplates donating to a cause. Not much point in giving money to a charity whose administrative costs are so high that only 10 to 15% of donations actually reach the target which you intend. Or worse yet, to have those donations re-directed to groups hostile to the USA.

 

[ScreamingEagle]

Being the extremist I am, I sent my donation through a Christian organization. I guess if the :arabia: don't like that, they don't have to accept the help. But I wager they will get more help from the Christian organizations than the Muslim community worldwide.