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My Favorite 6
Being as heavily involved in humanitarian relief endeavors as I am, it should not come as a shock to anyone that my primary focus in selecting favorites has to do with addressing - more than anything - humanitarian needs. While I am still working on determining the remainder of my top ten vote getters, here's what I believe to be the most important thus far. By the way, I am very open to lobbying for the other 4. There are so many great ones out there this is very difficult.
1. HELP TeleMedicine Humanitarian Emergency Mobile Medical Clinic Network (Of course I think this is number one, I know personally the significant impact it will have. This one project really will save countless lives around the world. Please vote for this one).
2. Maps 2.0 Geospacial Tools for Non Profits and Humanitarian Relief (People working in disaster zones need these tools and it can help them save lives ...please help these folks).
3. An Anti-Genocide Community: Building the Political Will to End Genocide (Of all the disasters I've work in, the ones where human hatred is at the core are the toughest by far. As HELP prepares to work this year in the heartbreak that is Darfur, I am impressed with the mobilization for the cause they are trying to address).
4. Amplafi: A social network for organizations (Organizations who don't network well with others diminish their own effectiveness. Anything that can be done to increase collaboration amongst organizations is a very good thing).
5. Prevent Human Trafficking using technology to tell stories of empowerment...(I have also seen first-hand way too much of this. Anything that can be done to decrease the amount of human trafficking is a step toward a much better tomorrow).
6. Community Microtelcos: Telecommunications and Microfinances for The Poor and The Poorest (It really takes so little to make such a huge difference in the third world. This project has great potential).
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Thanks for your support Randy!
Your doing great work -- I hope the Genocide Intervention Network and HELP will be able to encounter each other at this year's conference!
--ivan (An Anti-Genocide Community proposal)
Me too!
Here's hoping we will!
Randy Roberson - Disaster Logistics
H.E.L.P.
rroberson@disasterlogistics.org
www.disasterlogistics.org
GiveWell and humanitarian causes
I share your wish to address humanitarian needs, and I think the humanitarian aspect of GiveWell may have been understated a bit. We are devoted to finding proven, effective, scalable approaches to helping people, specifically (for our first year) in Africa and NYC.
The problem right now is that the lion's share of money flowing to these causes (especially in Africa) is from individual donors who have no way of assessing the actual effectiveness of charities - while a foundation can look at track record, activities, etc., all an individual donor has to go on is the brochures and the Charity Navigator rating (which is basically an accounting metric, not based on any analysis of what a charity actually does).
I strongly believe that good strategies are more valuable than money, and giving donors access to real research (the kind currently exclusive to foundations) will help them get their money where it will really have impact. It will also narrow the information gap that currently makes so many donors want to stick to local causes (since they have no idea what far-away charities literally do).
Interesting Points
You bring up some great points. Here's another thought to throw into the mix:
I am quite certain we all know the name of two international relief agencies (no I won't mention their names here, but I'm amazed their leaders can sleep at night) who - like our organization HELP - can purchase a 40' cargo container filled with donated medical supplies and equipment for approximately $4500. This container of medical commodities has a retail value placed on it of 1 million dollars. Now that by itself is not bad.
What is bad is this:
These same organizations will raise a million dollars for a disaster in some third world country, send one of these $4500. containers, and then tell their constituency that they “raised a million dollars and then sent a million dollars worth of supplies to that country…. Gee aren’t we great?”
Meanwhile the other $995,500 mysteriously goes somewhere else. Make sure as you're tracking the effectiveness of an organization that you also incorporate their dealings with "Gifts-in-Kind."
What some organizations are doing with this in unconscionable.
By the way, I like the idea of what your organization is working on. I'll read up on it more. I'd like to discuss your plans in person sometime.
Randy Roberson - Disaster Logistics
H.E.L.P.
rroberson@disasterlogistics.org
www.disasterlogistics.org
Thanks
Thanks for the observation - that is really interesting (and shocking). We have always been suspicious of organizations that give us the "market value" of supplies shipped, rather than focusing on what they shipped and whom it helped - but that is something we should definitely look out for, and I appreciate your pointing it out.
I'm happy to talk, just shoot me an email.