Chile may not need or want foreign assistance

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

This is an edited and updated repost of a previous post. This post was updated following Chile’s request for specific international assistance on Monday.

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When a disaster strikes and the news show images of people in…

Why are there so many natural disasters lately?

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

This is an edited and updated post of a previous post.

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With the flooding in New England caused by record-setting precipitation, the near flooding in North Dakota, concerns over the volcano in Iceland, and the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile,…

Voluntourism: What could go wrong when trying to do right?

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

This is a guest post from Daniela Papi. Daniela is the founder of PEPY, a hybrid organization based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. You can read more about the lessons Daniela and her team are learning by following her…

Feedback on The Charity Rater

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

I want to thank everyone that took the time to provide feedback on The Charity Rater, your comments and insight are much appreciated. I’m still accepting feedback on the rating system throughout this week. I hope to make…

Sometimes, You Need to Do Something

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

This is a guest post written by Alanna Shaikh, the author of the great blog Blood and Milk as well as a regular contributor to the UN Dispatch.

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When a humanitarian disaster happens, you…

Interesting articles and posts – February 11 – 20 2010

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

A roundup of the articles and posts I found interesting last week.

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The Right and Wrong Way to Survey – Philanthropy Action – Looks at common problems with survey results and how to avoid the problems. Related to this…

CDA’s Lessons on Disaster Response

Friday, February 19th, 2010

I’m a fan of the work of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, especially their Listening Projects. After the tsunami, my team was part of the Thailand listening exercise.

In an effort to help…

Good needs assessments are critical for good programs

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Needs assessments help determine if there is a need, what the need is, and if any other organizations are already working to meet that need. Without first conducting a needs assessment, funds could be wasted on the wrong type of…

How do you know if an organization deserves your donation?

Monday, February 15th, 2010

With 1.2 million registered nonprofits in the United States alone, and a new one registered every 15 minutes, choosing the right one to give to can be daunting. To help you with these decisions, I’ve developed a step-by-step system that…

The problem with Stop and Droppers

Friday, February 12th, 2010

After the tsunami there was a rush of people bringing their own goods to deliver to the tsunami survivors in Thailand. These people became known as Stop and Droppers because they would stop in a village, drop off stuff, and…