Will Hurricane Effort’s Wipe Away Local Charity Support?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a national trade paper for charity fundraising, reports that as of Monday one billion dollars of corporate and private funds have been donated for the Hurricane Katrina efforts. It is an amazing testament to the generosity of the people of our country.

However, USA Today has another take on this. (Here's the article.) In an article published yesterday they wrote, “Charities that feed and clothe the needy year-round are concerned that they will see a drop in contributions as Americans donate at a record pace to relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.”

Of course, this is not new. Local charitable giving went down after the 9/11 attacks and even after the Asian Tsunami.

This is different, however, because not only are donations going down, but also the need for services is increasing. As evacuees are moved to cities throughout the country, those cities’ existing resources are being stretched.