The desire to help others is innate in many of us. When we see or hear of someone in need, our gut reaction prompts us to take action. The final few months of 2017 have—in many ways—been a litmus test for how empathetically we react to natural disasters. Since September, three destructive hurricanes have hit the United States, wild fires have ravaged much of California, and one devastating earthquake has hit Mexico—and that is just in North America alone. Internationally, China has been hit with severe flooding, and landslides have taken over 170 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo, destroying countless homes and displacing millions.
However, it is not just at the national or international level that we see crisis take place. Neighbors lose everything in a house fire, and small businesses incur property damage unexpectedly, bringing devastation to our doorstep. Oftentimes, the stability and security that we take for granted can be stripped from our communities in an instant. Altogether, catastrophe can happen at any given time and place.
Following these kinds of events, the images we see on television screens and across the front pages of newspapers present us with despairing depictions of those clinging to the basic necessities of life. Instinctively, we may reach for spare change in our already stretched wallets or dig out unused household items that we think could make a difference. Despite the benevolence of our intentions, though, making donations in a time of crisis can often lead us to miss the boat in terms of contributing wisely. In the haste of wanting to help immediately, we may overlook certain key understandings related to donations. It is therefore important to consider the advice of experts who work on these very issues day in and day out.
Thomas Smoot is the senior administrator for the Summit County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), Division of Public Safety, and has been with the governmental agency since 2004. His organization has an emergency management agreement with 31 local subdivisions throughout the county, and as a result of that agreement performs a variety of tasks, from 911 coordination to emergency planning to resource management—which includes donations.
He explains that the work his staff undertakes encompasses efforts both locally and nationally. “If something happens within one of our 31 communities, we would be there to help or assist. We’re able to help do things like replace a furnace or restore things in a basement after a flood in Summit County. We’re actually out there on the ground doing damage assessment after disasters like tornadoes or flooding.” As far as assisting in more national crises, Smoot clarifies that EMA is “more of a coordinating organization in helping point people in the right direction; we are more of the liaisons.” In other words, Summit County EMA functions like an umbrella agency that helps coordinate with other agencies, like the United Way, Red Cross, and Salvation Army, during times of disaster or crisis.
Dealing with emergency management planning has provided Smoot with a great deal of experience when it comes to assessing what is most valuable in terms of outside donations. “I would say depending on the disaster, confirming the need first before giving is most important,” he says. “A lot of times, you’ll have a disaster happen and people will donate everything—clothes and other things that don’t really have an actual use.” A list of goods, he explains, becomes more of a burden to an organization, hampering their ability to meet survivors’ needs at the local level. “Financial contributions are probably best,” he says. “Needs may gradually change during a large-scale incident, so having a plan in place to factor in the right assistance is key.”
As executive director of Catholic Charities Serving Portage and Stark Counties, George Ganchar agrees that monetary donations tend to make the largest impact. Part of the Diocese of Youngstown that serves six counties, Ganchar’s organization runs three sites, two of which in Canton and Ravenna assist people that have emergent basic needs and assistance issues, such as food insecurity, utility shutoffs, and pending evictions.
The faith-based association accepts donations to help manage its operations and administer its programs. In this way, financial contributions become crucial. “One of the things we would like to emphasize is that in almost all cases, cash donations are much more practical than trying to figure out specific needs and trucking items to affected sites,” explains Ganchar. “I’m not saying that it’s never helpful, and certainly we appreciate people’s good intentions, but from a practical standpoint in trying to ascertain what exactly is most needed at any given time, it’s much easier to do cash donations. Catholic Charities can then utilize those funds for the needs that are most pressing.”
In terms of hurricane and larger natural disaster response, Ganchar says the majority of donations are handled at the central diocesan and Catholic Charities national level. “At the diocesan level, collection is taken on our websites, as well as by some of the parishes. The funds donated there go on to our Catholic Charities USA organization, and for this particular [hurricane] disaster, they’ve pledged 100 percent of those funds will go directly to crisis assistance.”
For Ganchar, making a donation knowledgeably works on two levels. “One is making sure the organization that you’re donating to is legitimate and has a reasonable administrative percentage,” he says. “A second piece is making sure that you understand what is most needed before deciding what to donate, finding out from the organization you’re trying to donate to what the most appropriate way to do that is. In many cases, that would be making monetary donations as opposed to gifts in kind. Especially in very fast-changing situations such as disaster relief, and unless an organization is requesting specific items, it is better to do monetary donations.”
George Camilletti and Erica Ward work as a board trustee and case manager, respectively, at two Summit County non-profit agencies. Camilletti’s organization, Good Neighbors, began in 1957 and has seven locations throughout the area that provide food and clothing to residents in need. The Goodyear Heights location he manages served over 39,000 people in 2016 with only one part-time paid employee. Ward’s work with Family Promise of Summit County provides emergency homeless shelter to families in need.
Both Camilletti and Ward say their non-profits rely heavily on donations, both during times of need and outside them. Good Neighbors collects non-perishable food items, and Family Promise accepts a range of household essentials—and both welcome financial contributions also. As registered non-profits, the financial donations made to each would result in a tax write-off for the donor.
“When you work at a non-profit, you’re always trying to push the envelope to figure out how you’re going to keep the doors open, so any little assistance we can get from the community helps make us a bit more stable,” says Ward. Camilletti agrees. “Hunger is a 12-month, 365-day-per-year problem. Making a donation count, in my mind, is donating to some place local, and that goes directly toward the mission.”
“Donating wisely,” adds Ward, “is to really help agencies make a difference and do the good work that they do.”
