We are so grateful for the generosity shown by the GlobalGiving community in response to Hurricane Harvey. We're also glad to see donors asking important questions to make sure their donations have the biggest impact possible. The following are answers to frequently asked questions about GlobalGiving's response:
A: GlobalGiving has been awarded the highest possible rating by Charity Navigator, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and GuideStar. You can click on these logos to verify our rating.
A: Hurricane Harvey hit the coastal city of Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 storm on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017. It stalled over southeast Texas as a downgraded tropical storm, inflicting massive flooding.
A: There have been several hurricane-related deaths in Texas, and the storm has caused widespread flooding and major damage to homes and structures in southeast Texas. It's expected to inflict damage in other Gulf Coast states, including Louisiana. First responders have described it as one of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States and have compared the level of devastation to Hurricane Katrina.
A: All donations to this fund will support relief and recovery efforts in affected regions. The fund will help first responders meet survivors' immediate needs, including the provision of shelter, medical care, food, and clean water. Once initial relief work is complete, this fund will transition to support longer-term recovery efforts run by vetted local organizations.
A: GlobalGiving has longstanding relationships with several partners who are responding in the region. Our partners in the region already have relationships and structures in place in the affected communities.
A: We support organizations that GlobalGiving has established relationships with in the disaster-affected region. In special cases, like Hurricane Harvey, we also reach out to reputable, local organizations that are not yet in the GlobalGiving network to ensure our donors' funds are addressing as many urgent and long-term needs as possible. In these special cases, all organizations still go through GlobalGiving's extensive vetting processes, as well as additional review of their disaster response work.
A: Here's how disaster recovery at GlobalGiving works: the GlobalGiving community is made up of large and small nonprofits from 175+ countries. When disasters and crises strike, we are committed to connecting donors to vetted organizations that are immediately responding to needs in the impacted communities. We often support international or regional first responders in the initial stages of relief. However, we believe local, community-led organizations are best positioned to assess and respond to needs in the medium- and long-term, so we listen carefully to what these local leaders deem most critical. Our view is that community-led organizations possess critical knowledge about their communities and can nimbly and effectively navigate unique dynamics in their region. Getting funds to them benefits communities directly, quickly, and with longer-term impact. Learn more about our approach.
Read more about how this approach has helped:
A: For donors, GlobalGiving provides a trusted way to help quickly and effectively without having to do a lot of research. Donors can support both immediate relief and long-term recovery with donations to our relief fund. Every nonprofit that receives funds must commit to sending reports regularly, and we typically conduct site visits to check on the work being done. Donors will receive updates on progress reported by GlobalGiving’s nonprofit partners.
A: GlobalGiving helps companies give to relief and recovery projects that are important to employees, customers, or other stakeholders. Many companies use GlobalGiving to track and match employee donations to disaster relief efforts, amplifying employee impact and driving further support directly where it's needed. We also facilitate grants to specific organizations and manage ongoing disaster grant programs for companies and foundations like Facebook and the Omidyar Group.
A: Depending upon the scale of the disaster we will provide updates within weeks of a significant disaster, and at a minimum quarterly, to donors who provide email addresses. These updates include information showing the efforts supported through the fund, including the names of the organizations that are receiving funds. As time goes on, we'll share specific stories, photos, and videos from these relief and recovery efforts. You can see we're still reporting on how funds are being used for long-term recovery operations related to past disasters:
A: We'll make disbursements from the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund as soon as possible, which means your donation could be on the ground within a week or less. (This is rare for most organizations that aggregate funds as we do!) Our commitment to local nonprofits and medium and long-term recovery means we are deliberate about how we disburse donations. For relief Funds that raise less than $1 million, our goal is to disburse all contributions within 12 months. For larger disasters, we commit to disbursing at least 50% of Fund balances raised within the first year, with additional contributions to be directed to support priority needs and vulnerable communities in years two and three. All donations to Funds will be disbursed within 36 months.
A: As part of achieving our nonprofit mission to accelerate community-led change, GlobalGiving covers its costs in a variety of ways. We retain a 12% nonprofit support fee and 3% payment processing fee for donations to our disaster funds. It may initially be confusing to donors that we retain fees. But GlobalGiving is much more than a crowdfunding website. In order to sustainably provide value to impacted communities, we retain this fee to cover our staff costs in identifying, vetting, and making thoughtful decisions regarding the stewardship of donor contributions. In addition, we provide ongoing support to community-led organizations so they are more resilient in the face of the next crisis. We also work to mobilize corporate, institutional, and individual donations to our nonprofit partners, many of which are too busy or too small to have the time or connections to fundraise on their own. Our ability to drive further support from companies turns the GlobalGiving fee into an investment that pays off for local nonprofits and the communities they serve.
The individual projects posted by our nonprofit partners responding to disasters are assessed a 5-7% nonprofit support fee (plus 3% processing fee) depending on whether they are registered in the US, UK, or internationally. Learn more about our fees.
A: GlobalGiving is a top-rated (4-star) charity on Charity Navigator. We are also accredited by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. We've been recommended by experts in thousands of articles, including these:
Most importantly, our nonprofit partners have reinforced the value of our approach time and time again:
“We’re thankful for GlobalGiving’s leadership in supporting local long-term disaster recovery, and we’re grateful for the trust and collaboration we have come to expect from the GlobalGiving team,” said Daniel. “GlobalGiving’s support enables us to say ‘yes, we can help’ to our neighbors who’ve heard ‘no’ far too many times. GlobalGiving’s approach is worth investing in; it should be considered a model for the future of disaster recovery collaboration.” – Imani Daniel, Executive Director, St. Thomas Recovery Team
Finally, at any time you're not happy with how your funds have been used, we also offer the GlobalGiving Guarantee.
A: We appreciate your desire to give what you have in order to help people in need. GlobalGiving does not have the capacity to collect in-kind donations on behalf of our nonprofit partners. Based on the research of the Center for International Disaster Information, we recommend that individuals give cash and not in-kind donations after disasters. Through cash contributions, relief organizations can do more good for more people, with greater speed and sensitivity to emerging needs than with unrequested material donations. Cash donations help provide medical and other life-saving aid now, and rebuild critical infrastructure later. This infographic explains why sending material goods, despite the good intentions, can be costly and sometimes create a secondary disaster. If you are with a company looking to donate in-kind supplies in bulk, please visit Good360.org.
When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
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