Responsible Donors’
Guidebook
By Hazem Kira
The Pakistan American Democratic
Forum (PADF) has issued the following guidebook to encourage
responsible, informed, victim-friendly, and goal-oriented
giving.
Help People Live – Continue
to Give
Learn about the charity that you want to give. You need to
find out their overhead expense, service delivery structure
in the affected area, number of volunteers and paid staff,
area of expertise, policy to accept area / project specific
contribution, and willingness to provide periodic progressive
reports.
1. Identity of the group. Find
out about the group doing the fundraising. How do they plan
to disburse the collected funds? Does the group have the ability
to take these funds to the quake victims in a direct, speedy,
and responsible manner? Or are they collecting it on behalf
of some other group or entity? Are they raising these funds
on behalf of the President’s Fund or some government
functionary? (Recently, funds were raised in Ohio supposedly
on behalf of the Edhi Foundation but then passed on to one
of the most detested Pakistani minister to help him consolidate
his own support base.) Find out who will be distributing funds
to whom and how? Are they going send these funds to some friends
or relatives to distribute these funds as they deem fit or
do they have some kind of an objective system for the proper
disbursement of the funds you and others have made available.
2. Accountability/Transparency.
3. Overhead costs – Find
out how much money the group plans to keep for its own administrative
expenses. These can range from five percent to 50 percent.
Many first-time collectors of funds have no track record or
even clear notion of their own overhead costs.
4. Service Delivery Structure
(SDS) – Do they have a network of volunteers and paid
professionals in the affected areas of NWFP and Kashmir? Do
their volunteers and paid professionals know the area and
have existing facilities – office, clinics, warehouses,
supply depots, etc. – in those areas? Only a few Pakistan
or US-based charities have any mentionable outreach network
in quake-devastated areas.
5. Relief Work Experience –
More than 95 of the groups raising funds in the United States
don’t have any relief work experience. Now is not the
best time for you to underwrite on-the-job-training for someone.
6. Specified Contribution Policy
(SCP) – Find out if the group is willing and able to
receive area and project specific donations. For example,
if you wanted to donate money exclusively for an orphanage
in Bagh, will they will be in a position to make and keep
that promise?
7. Periodic Progress Reports
(PPR) – Is the group willing to provide periodic progress
reports?
8. Bureaucracy – How many
layers of bureaucracy will control the disbursement of these
designated funds and how much discretionary power will these
bureaucrats have to control, regulate, and allocate these
funds? Will they have the power to withhold, delay, or redirect
these funds? (The government of Pakistan is least transparent
in this regard).
9. Timeliness - Find out how
long would take for the group to get the desired aid to the
quake victims.
10. Fragmentation – Ultimately,
it’s your money and you can give it to anyone. But giving
it in small quantities to large number of disparate groups
will fragment the relief and rehabilitation resource pool.
It will make it vastly difficult for relief organizations
to underwrite major rebuilding projects like schools, hospitals,
orphanages and the like.
The matrix below provides a
brief overview of major charities in terms of the above values.
Organization
|
Overhead |
SSD |
SCP
|
PPR |
|
NWFP/AJK
|
Islamic
Relief |
6
Percent |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Edhi |
10
Percent |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Hidaya
|
10-15
Percent |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Islamic
Crescent |
6.5
Percent |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
ICNA
|
10-15
Percent |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
For more information on
this subject visit PADF’s quake-dedicated website at
www.voiceofpakistan.net.
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