Are You Ready?
Disasters both internationally and nationally place religious organizations in the spotlight. They're often the first on the scene, and frequently among the more-generous donors.
But knowing how to give, and how to marshal your congregation's talents for volunteer efforts, requires planning and organization.
Help for the Journey
What follows are resources for evaluating nonprofit groups, as well as prominent nonprofit organizations that offer disaster relief. Religious groups are identified by their affiliation: Christian denominational; Christian nondenominational; Jewish; and other religious. Groups without a specific religious affiliation are identified by their focus: supporting children; offering medical assistance; alleviating poverty; and other.
Also, listen in to our podcast with representatives of Samaritan's Purse who provide some guidance to faith communities about preparing for giving and volunteering in times of crisis.
Resources for Evaluating Nonprofit Organizations:
American Institute of Philanthropy: The AIP offers a free list of organizations it considers "Top-Rated" and provides detailed analysis of over 500 nonprofits for a fee. AIP charges for its services to maintain independence—it doesn't charge charities to be rated, and it doesn't accept advertising.
http://www.charitywatch.org/
BBB Wise Giving Alliance: The Alliance does not rate nonprofits; rather, it informs donors which of its twenty Standards for Charity Accountability a nonprofit organization meets. The Alliance focuses on soliciting nonprofits.
http://www.bbb.org/us/charity/
Charity Navigator: Charity Navigator applies its four-star rating system to more than 5000 nonprofits. Criteria are based on two broad areas of a charity's financial health: how responsibly it functions day-to-day, and how well positioned it is to sustain its programs over time.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability: ECFA is an accrediting agency. All nonprofits that carry the ECFA seal are in full compliance with the organization's Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship and are regularly reviewed to ensure compliance.
http://www.ecfa.org/HomePage.aspx
GuideStar: GuideStar provides a database of self-reported information about nonprofit organizations. Individuals can access basic information about nonprofits for free, or subscribe to receive GuideStars Analyst Reports, which include peer-group comparisons and summaries of fiscal performance in previous years.
http://www.guidestar.org/
Disaster Relief Organizations:
Groups with a Religious Affiliation
• Christian Denominational
ADRA International
http://www.adra.org
Adventist Community Services
http://www.adra.org
American Baptist Men
http://www.abmen.org/page9.html
Baptist World Aid
http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=14
Brethren Disaster Ministers
http://www.brethren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=serve_brethren_disaster_ministries
Catholic Charities
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org
Catholic Relief Services
http://www.crs.org
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
http://www.crwrc.org/pages/crwrc.cfm
Episcopal Relief and Development
http://www.er-d.org/
Friends Disaster Service
http://www.friendsdisasterservice.net/
International Orthodox Christian Charities
http://www.iocc.org/
Lutheran Disaster Response
http://www.ldr.org/
Lutheran World Relief
http://www.lwr.org/
Mennonite Central Committee
http://www.mcc.org/
Mennonite Disaster Service
http://www.mds.mennonite.net/
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries
http://www.ncm.org
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
http://www.pcusa.org/pda/
Southern Baptist Convention--North American Mission
http://www.namb.net/
United Church of Christ Disaster Response
http://www.ucc.org/disaster/index-old.html
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
• Christian Nondenominational
Christian Disaster Response
http://www.cdresponse.org/
Church World Service
http://churchworldservice.org/
Habitat for Humanity
http://http//www.habitat.org/
Hearts with Hands
http://www.heartswithhands.org/
International Aid
http://www.internationalaid.org/
Operation Blessing
http://community.ob.org/site/PageServer
Salvation Army
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
Samaritan's Purse
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
http://www.svdpusa.org/
World Relief
http://community.wr.org/Page.aspx?pid=1823
• Jewish
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
http://www.jdc.org
American Jewish World Service
http://www.ajws.org
B'nai B'rith International
http://www.bnaibrith.org/
United Jewish Communities
http://www.ujc.org/index.aspx?page=1
• Other Religious
Tzu Chi Foundation
http://www.us.tzuchi.org
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
http://www.uusc.org/
Groups without a Specific Religious Affiliation
• Supporting Children:
Feed the Children
http://www.feedthechildren.org
Save the Children
http://www.savethechildren.org/
UNICEF
http://www.unicefusa.org/
World Vision
http://www.worldvision.org/
• Offering Medical Assistance:
American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/
Direct Relief International
http://www.directrelief.org/
Disaster Psychiatry Outreach
http://www.disasterpsych.org/
Doctors Without Borders
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
http://www.icisf.org/
International Medical Corps
http://www.imcworldwide.org/
Mercy Medical Airlift
http://www.mercymedical.org/
Project HOPE
http://www.projecthope.org/
• Alleviating Poverty:
Action Againist Hunger
http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/
ActionAid International
http://www.actionaid.org
Ananda Margal Universal Relief Team
http://www.amurt.net/
CARE
http://www.care.org/
Convoy of Hope
http://www.convoyofhope.org/
Feeding America
http://feedingamerica.org/
International Relief and Development
http://www.ird-dc.org/
Mercy Corps
http://www.mercycorps.org/
Operation USA
http://www.opusa.org/
Oxfam America
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
World Relief
http://www.worldrelief.org/
United Way of America
http://www.liveunited.org/
Volunteers of America
http://www.voa.org/
Week of Compassion
http://www.weekofcompassion.org/
• Other:
City Team Ministries
http://www.cityteam.org/disasterresponse/
Hands on Network
http://www.handsonnetwork.org/
Hope Coalition America
http://www.operationhope.org/smdev/
Humane Society of the United States
http://www.hsus.org/
National Emergency Response Teams (NERT)
http://www.nert-usa.org/
National Organization for Victim Assistance
http://www.trynova.org/
REACT International
http://www.reactintl.org/public/