Fundraising dinners for disasters...I never understood

[FAH1223]

The point of making it a dinner? Or having the food before the program?

Islamic Relief had about 6 or 7 across the country this past weekend, they raised well over $1 million BUT... tickets were like $25 and at the one I went to in Virginia, it was in a Hilton where it was probably $45 a plate.

So they were already operating on a loss, obviously.

The fundraising portion was also flawed because they'd show a short video of Somalis walking through the desert, dying on the way to Dadaab, along with graphic photos. But they'd keep flashing the stats on the powerpoints on the side.

Psychologically, it would have been more effective to have say.. a picture of a fleeing refugee with a story and yell out a price to donate... like "$10,000 to help these women who bury their children in the sand on the journey" and then another picture that says "$500 for this child.." etc

You're in a hotel, eating dinner and no one there knows what it feels to be really hungry. I know people need an incentive to come but why at these lavish places...

[Lillaahiya]

When attending such functions, I can't help but think about what fraction of the donations are actually going to the cause. A few months back I was reading up about the aftermath of Haiti, and how the country only received about one fifth of aid the world raised, keeping in mind that the earthquake happened over a year ago

I understand Haiti's disaster involves rebuilding a country and IGOs, however I can't help but wonder where my money is really going.

[Narcissistic]

Did they have sponsors to help out with the cost?

I agree with keeping prices low, so long as you have an effective way of making them dig deep into pockets. Last time I went to one they had this auction, all these nice brand new items (which were donated by sisters') were being sold at twice their value. It seemed to work.

[Beenaale_No1]

When attending such functions, I can't help but think about what fraction of the donations are actually going to the cause. A few months back I was reading up about the aftermath of Haiti, and how the country only received about one fifth of aid the world raised, keeping in mind that the earthquake happened over a year ago

I understand Haiti's disaster involves rebuilding a country and IGOs, however I can't help but wonder where my money is really going.

Your suspicions is justified.

Look at all the "aid" going to Somalia. Most recently is aid sent from Turkey to Somalia. Every country must have pledged at least 100 million dollars or more. We are counting into the billions now - and yet the state those people are in havent changed much.

The Haiti "aid" was one big International scam. People were making money off a disaster and other people's misery.

[OliveOil]

In Columbus, Ohio...we are making the food...

[union]

45$ a plate is the minimum. The idea is to donate more after hearing/watch the program. Generally people feel guilty if they wine and dine and leave without paying anything much, especially after seeing other people pay.

[Shirib]

cause it raises a lot of money FAH, what's do you not understand?

[Amethyst]

Psychologically, it would have been more effective to have say.. a picture of a fleeing refugee with a story and yell out a price to donate... like "$10,000 to help these women who bury their children in the sand on the journey" and then another picture that says "$500 for this child.." etc

You're in a hotel, eating dinner and no one there knows what it feels to be really hungry. I know people need an incentive to come but why at these lavish places...

Fah,

There's something disturbing & somewhat dehumanizing bout putting a prize tag right on top of a someone's head n claim that it would save their life. It's not like the people coming to the fundraiser havnt seen the pics already or arent aware of whats going on. Are you also forgetting that some of them have been fasting for the past 17 hours, n "feel" the hunger? A dinner plate that directly translates to money being donated isn't by far the worst thing in the world.

That said....I get where ur going with it, though. If anything has been proven during these drought relief efforts, is that one should donate o an organization with less or in some cases, NO operating costs. I love IslamicRelief, but the money for the flight, shipping, not to mention these "lavish" fundraising parties, must be coming somewhere, right? The other thing is that they are not necessarily operating in the worst hit areas, due to the fear of safety for their workers, whereas local, small, and credible Somali NGO's are. In my opinion, there's very little difference between them, Save the Children, UNICEF or WFP.

[James Dahl]

People don't know better, they just want to help starving people or people living in terrible conditions.

The fact that most of the aid doesn't even get there, most people don't know that.

[FAH1223]

Psychologically, it would have been more effective to have say.. a picture of a fleeing refugee with a story and yell out a price to donate... like "$10,000 to help these women who bury their children in the sand on the journey" and then another picture that says "$500 for this child.." etc

You're in a hotel, eating dinner and no one there knows what it feels to be really hungry. I know people need an incentive to come but why at these lavish places...

Fah,

There's something disturbing & somewhat dehumanizing bout putting a prize tag right on top of a someone's head n claim that it would save their life. It's not like the people coming to the fundraiser havnt seen the pics already or arent aware of whats going on. Are you also forgetting that some of them have been fasting for the past 17 hours, n "feel" the hunger? A dinner plate that directly translates to money being donated isn't by far the worst thing in the world.

That said....I get where ur going with it, though. If anything has been proven during these drought relief efforts, is that one should donate o an organization with less or in some cases, NO operating costs. I love IslamicRelief, but the money for the flight, shipping, not to mention these "lavish" fundraising parties, must be coming somewhere, right? The other thing is that they are not necessarily operating in the worst hit areas, due to the fear of safety for their workers, whereas local, small, and credible Somali NGO's are. In my opinion, there's very little difference between them, Save the Children, UNICEF or WFP.

I think us fasting 17 hours is nothing in comparison. I'm hungry but when you mentally put in perspective there are people that probably had their last meal weeks ago and may never eat again, it certainly curbs your hunger.

I don't think its dehumanizing, I mean... they were flashing those photos all night. Why not just stop on a photo, tell the story about it, and then fundraise about it that way? It creates the pathos and ethos for donating.

And yeah, I always knew Islamic Relief has all those costs and most of their operations are outside of Somalia though the other night I met a Dr. who just came back from Mogadishu (he looked traumatized) but he was only there one day.

I think those Somali NGOs are the only ones that should be getting a lot of support..

[Shirib]

Can anyone name Somali NGO's that are operating in Al Shabaab held area's?

[FAH1223]

Can anyone name Somali NGO's that are operating in Al Shabaab held area's?

http://www.dhaf.org/

[Shirib]

Can anyone name Somali NGO's that are operating in Al Shabaab held area's?

http://www.dhaf.org/

u know any others? Im just saying that because her org is in fairly close distance to Xamar