[MOD] IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT + POLL
Hey guys, I have some very important things to announce, so please read through this entire post and cast your vote at the end, as this will determine where your donations will go.
To put it simply, we're going to be speeding up the voting process regarding where we are donating to, as well as making changes to our original plans as per PayPal's request. I actually received a phone call from them yesterday, and we had a long talk regarding this fundraiser and what I would have to do to legitimize what we're doing. The good news is, we absolutely can still continue this fundraiser and the donations can keep coming in. The bad news is, PayPal has flagged the account for the time being and will be placing restrictions on it in six days (such as removing the ability to make bank transfers) unless I provide documentation to prove we are legally authorized to raise funds on behalf of the charity we choose.
Please do not make suggestions about quickly sending off the money before the six day period is over. I do not want Paypal to interpret that hasty move wrongly and think that we are in any way involved in illegal activity such as money laundering, and their request for official documentation is actually very reasonable and understandable. However, since one of Paypal's requirements is that I would need a subordination letter(s) from registered 501c(3) charity/charities of our choice, this severely limits us in terms of both time and choices, as we must now race to pick which charity to donate to before that waived transaction fee period runs out, as well as contact each charity for a subordination letter from them, for which I'm not sure how long the process will take.
Because of this new time constraint, I have made the conscious decision to reduce the original intention of polling the community on whether to donate in one large sum vs. distribute to multiple charities. We will now be picking only one organization to donate to.
It would take much too long to gather all the proper documentation needed, not to mention the process itself may also be time consuming (eg. if they want to take the time to review everything we've done first, if they require additional documents before granting a letter, etc.). The fundraiser itself is also extremely draining and time consuming on our part as the organizers, who have school and work to attend to in addition to this. There is very little free time left that we can spare on this fundraiser, so I sincerely hope you will understand why we are only choosing one charity now.
Here is a short but excellent summary of the three best NPOs written up by zomboid after we narrowed things down from all the research we have been doing over the past few days. I'm going to paste it verbatim here, and I highly encourage everyone to read all the way through, so you too will gain an understanding of the pros and cons to donating to any one of them, regardless of how well known their name actually is.
Currently there are many charities out there soliciting funds for the relief effort in Japan, and I have checked out many legitimate NPOs and their press statements regarding their fundraising efforts. Since Japan hasn't officially solicited for financial aide, nor has it accept many of the offers by countries due to various reasons (such as not further burdening the affected area with more influx of people and volunteers.) We have come to the conclusion that instead of pledging to charities that are promising to work for the relief effort, we are going to pledge to charities that are actually in Japan working towards the relief effort. Due to the new restrictions set out by Paypal, we can no longer consider the possibility of donating to any non-profit organizations that are not registered under the 501c(3) label in the US/Canada. This stipulation makes it almost impossible for us to donate to any local Japanese charities since they do not fall under this label.
Below is a section dedicated to three charities we have found that are currently working in Japan with the relief effort and the possible pros and cons of each charitable organization. To compile this list of pros and cons, I visited various websites and read testimonials, along with articles concerning the charities. For each statement I made concerning these charities, I have prepared a link to credible websites that support those claims. I tried to be as unbias as possible in compiling the list, but if you feel that I was being overly harsh, or lenient, towards a particular charity, you're more than free to comment and point out these flaws.
Direct Relief International
Pros:
- They are currently working with the Japanese government officials and also nongovernment responders in Japan to offer medical aid and assistance (link.)
- They are pledging to use 100% of all the funds donated towards the Japanese relief effort and will be dedicated exclusively to helping Japan (link.)
Cons:
- They are a smaller, less well-known organization. (I don't know how to provide an official link for this statement, sorry.)
Summary of Expenditures:
Charity Navigator
2009 Tax Return
On average, Direct Relief International spends 99cent for every dollar that they get towards their programs. 0.6% goes towards administrative fees and 0.4% goes towards fundraising fees.
Doctors Without Borders
Pros:
- Japan is one of the few first world countries that have only 2.2 practicing doctors per capita (1000people), which is slightly below average of the 3.2 practicing physicians of other first world countries (link.) This means that Japan probably needs doctors right now to help them with the disaster relief effort.
- Doctors Without Borders are committed to bringing medical care to areas affected by natural disasters (link.)
- They are planning to send supplies such as blankets, water, and food to the affected areas, some supplies are even on their way there (link.)
Cons:
- They are not accepting donations specifically towards the Japanese relief effort (link.)
This means that what we donate is not guarantee to go towards Japan 100% as Doctors Without Borders is drawing from their unrestricted funds.
Summary of Expenditures:
Charity Navigator
2009 Expenses on Doctors Without Borders' Official Website
On average, they spend around 86cent on the dollar towards their causes for every dollar that they raised. 13% of their funds goes towards fundraising and 1.5% of their funds go towards administrative expenses.
The American Red Cross
Pros:
- It is perhaps the most well-known, and one of the largest charity organizations in the world. (link)
- Its mission involves preventing, preparing for, and responding to disasters. (link)
Cons:
- Red Cross Japan is only accepting financial support from the American/Canadian Red Cross if the funds go towards providing first aid, emotional support and relief items to those displaced. They are not actually involved in sending supplies at this moment (link 01.)
Summary of Expenditures:
Charity Navigator
American Red Cross's 2010 Tax Return
On average, The American Red Cross spends around 91cent for every dollar that is donated on their projects. 4.5% of their funds go towards administrative expenses and 4.5% goes towards fundraising.
IMPORTANT:
Regardless of the vote, I have decided that we will be donating at least $5000 to DRI, the reasoning being that I have had to start the process of requesting subordination letters due to Paypal's requirements. I chose DRI over the other two because the American Red Cross might be too big of an organization and we were afraid they weren't going to respond in a timely manner, and Doctors Without Borders has yet to actually set up a fund specifically for Japan. Ideally, I would prefer to donate to DRI as they have statistically shown that out of all three organizations they have spent almost 100% of the donations they receive towards actual aid. I have also already received word from DRI following my inquiry email yesterday afternoon, and they stated firmly that 100% of all funds donated towards emergency aid for Japan will go directly to the cause.
And now, the all-important part of this post:
Poll The poll will be ending in 48 hours from now, on March 20th at 12:00 PM EST (please check here to convert to your own timezone).
Again, this is due to the new time constraints placed on us to obtain official documentation to prove to Paypal that we are authorized to raise funds for a registered charity organization. As I said before, you are still welcome to keep posting up offer threads, selling/buying, and donating while all this is going on, because it won't have an effect on the fundraiser itself. I really do wish we could consider more choices, and give you guys more time and more freedom to pick what you want as it is you the community who have devoted so much of your time, efforts and money to this fundraiser for Japan. I'm sincerely sorry we have to make all these changes, but I hope you will understand that it is necessary as well.
Thank you very much for reading and voting. ♥
(on a lighter note, we're at $17,822.24 USD in terms of money raised for the fundraiser!)
To put it simply, we're going to be speeding up the voting process regarding where we are donating to, as well as making changes to our original plans as per PayPal's request. I actually received a phone call from them yesterday, and we had a long talk regarding this fundraiser and what I would have to do to legitimize what we're doing. The good news is, we absolutely can still continue this fundraiser and the donations can keep coming in. The bad news is, PayPal has flagged the account for the time being and will be placing restrictions on it in six days (such as removing the ability to make bank transfers) unless I provide documentation to prove we are legally authorized to raise funds on behalf of the charity we choose.
Please do not make suggestions about quickly sending off the money before the six day period is over. I do not want Paypal to interpret that hasty move wrongly and think that we are in any way involved in illegal activity such as money laundering, and their request for official documentation is actually very reasonable and understandable. However, since one of Paypal's requirements is that I would need a subordination letter(s) from registered 501c(3) charity/charities of our choice, this severely limits us in terms of both time and choices, as we must now race to pick which charity to donate to before that waived transaction fee period runs out, as well as contact each charity for a subordination letter from them, for which I'm not sure how long the process will take.
Because of this new time constraint, I have made the conscious decision to reduce the original intention of polling the community on whether to donate in one large sum vs. distribute to multiple charities. We will now be picking only one organization to donate to.
It would take much too long to gather all the proper documentation needed, not to mention the process itself may also be time consuming (eg. if they want to take the time to review everything we've done first, if they require additional documents before granting a letter, etc.). The fundraiser itself is also extremely draining and time consuming on our part as the organizers, who have school and work to attend to in addition to this. There is very little free time left that we can spare on this fundraiser, so I sincerely hope you will understand why we are only choosing one charity now.
Here is a short but excellent summary of the three best NPOs written up by zomboid after we narrowed things down from all the research we have been doing over the past few days. I'm going to paste it verbatim here, and I highly encourage everyone to read all the way through, so you too will gain an understanding of the pros and cons to donating to any one of them, regardless of how well known their name actually is.
Currently there are many charities out there soliciting funds for the relief effort in Japan, and I have checked out many legitimate NPOs and their press statements regarding their fundraising efforts. Since Japan hasn't officially solicited for financial aide, nor has it accept many of the offers by countries due to various reasons (such as not further burdening the affected area with more influx of people and volunteers.) We have come to the conclusion that instead of pledging to charities that are promising to work for the relief effort, we are going to pledge to charities that are actually in Japan working towards the relief effort. Due to the new restrictions set out by Paypal, we can no longer consider the possibility of donating to any non-profit organizations that are not registered under the 501c(3) label in the US/Canada. This stipulation makes it almost impossible for us to donate to any local Japanese charities since they do not fall under this label.
Below is a section dedicated to three charities we have found that are currently working in Japan with the relief effort and the possible pros and cons of each charitable organization. To compile this list of pros and cons, I visited various websites and read testimonials, along with articles concerning the charities. For each statement I made concerning these charities, I have prepared a link to credible websites that support those claims. I tried to be as unbias as possible in compiling the list, but if you feel that I was being overly harsh, or lenient, towards a particular charity, you're more than free to comment and point out these flaws.
Direct Relief International
Pros:
- They are currently working with the Japanese government officials and also nongovernment responders in Japan to offer medical aid and assistance (link.)
- They are pledging to use 100% of all the funds donated towards the Japanese relief effort and will be dedicated exclusively to helping Japan (link.)
Cons:
- They are a smaller, less well-known organization. (I don't know how to provide an official link for this statement, sorry.)
Summary of Expenditures:
Charity Navigator
2009 Tax Return
On average, Direct Relief International spends 99cent for every dollar that they get towards their programs. 0.6% goes towards administrative fees and 0.4% goes towards fundraising fees.
Doctors Without Borders
Pros:
- Japan is one of the few first world countries that have only 2.2 practicing doctors per capita (1000people), which is slightly below average of the 3.2 practicing physicians of other first world countries (link.) This means that Japan probably needs doctors right now to help them with the disaster relief effort.
- Doctors Without Borders are committed to bringing medical care to areas affected by natural disasters (link.)
- They are planning to send supplies such as blankets, water, and food to the affected areas, some supplies are even on their way there (link.)
Cons:
- They are not accepting donations specifically towards the Japanese relief effort (link.)
This means that what we donate is not guarantee to go towards Japan 100% as Doctors Without Borders is drawing from their unrestricted funds.
Summary of Expenditures:
Charity Navigator
2009 Expenses on Doctors Without Borders' Official Website
On average, they spend around 86cent on the dollar towards their causes for every dollar that they raised. 13% of their funds goes towards fundraising and 1.5% of their funds go towards administrative expenses.
The American Red Cross
Pros:
- It is perhaps the most well-known, and one of the largest charity organizations in the world. (link)
- Its mission involves preventing, preparing for, and responding to disasters. (link)
Cons:
- Red Cross Japan is only accepting financial support from the American/Canadian Red Cross if the funds go towards providing first aid, emotional support and relief items to those displaced. They are not actually involved in sending supplies at this moment (link 01.)
Summary of Expenditures:
Charity Navigator
American Red Cross's 2010 Tax Return
On average, The American Red Cross spends around 91cent for every dollar that is donated on their projects. 4.5% of their funds go towards administrative expenses and 4.5% goes towards fundraising.
IMPORTANT:
Regardless of the vote, I have decided that we will be donating at least $5000 to DRI, the reasoning being that I have had to start the process of requesting subordination letters due to Paypal's requirements. I chose DRI over the other two because the American Red Cross might be too big of an organization and we were afraid they weren't going to respond in a timely manner, and Doctors Without Borders has yet to actually set up a fund specifically for Japan. Ideally, I would prefer to donate to DRI as they have statistically shown that out of all three organizations they have spent almost 100% of the donations they receive towards actual aid. I have also already received word from DRI following my inquiry email yesterday afternoon, and they stated firmly that 100% of all funds donated towards emergency aid for Japan will go directly to the cause.
And now, the all-important part of this post:
Poll The poll will be ending in 48 hours from now, on March 20th at 12:00 PM EST (please check here to convert to your own timezone).
Again, this is due to the new time constraints placed on us to obtain official documentation to prove to Paypal that we are authorized to raise funds for a registered charity organization. As I said before, you are still welcome to keep posting up offer threads, selling/buying, and donating while all this is going on, because it won't have an effect on the fundraiser itself. I really do wish we could consider more choices, and give you guys more time and more freedom to pick what you want as it is you the community who have devoted so much of your time, efforts and money to this fundraiser for Japan. I'm sincerely sorry we have to make all these changes, but I hope you will understand that it is necessary as well.
Thank you very much for reading and voting. ♥
(on a lighter note, we're at $17,822.24 USD in terms of money raised for the fundraiser!)