Milwaukee, Wis. – This past Saturday, Hamas militants from Gaza launched a surprise attack against towns in southern Israel, including a music festival. Media sources report there were over 900 deaths, over a thousand wounded, and more than 100 Israeli hostages being taken. In response, Israel declared war on Haas, sent airstrikes into Gaza on Sunday, over 600 Palestinians were killed. For those seeking to help victims and families impacted by this crisis, BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following giving tips and a list of BBB Accredited Charities soliciting for relief efforts.
- Can the charity get to the impacted area? Not all relief organizations will be positioned to provide relief quickly. See if the charity already has a presence in Israel or Gaza.
- Are you alert to possible social media scams? Scammers recognize the emotional motivation to help in response to emergency situations. Be wary of responding to appeals without taking the opportunity to verify the trustworthiness of the social media source or the specified charity.
- Should you send clothing and food? Local drives to collect clothing and food to send overseas may not be practical as the logistics and timing to deliver and disperse such items will be challenging. Relief organizations are better equipped to obtain what is needed, distribute it effectively and avoid duplication of effort.
- Is the charity experienced in providing emergency relief? Experienced disaster relief charities are the best bet to help deliver aid as soon as possible. New entrants may have difficulty in following through even if they have the best of intentions.
- Are you considering crowdfunding appeals? If engaging in crowdfunding, it is safest to give to someone you personally know and trust, keeping in mind that some crowdfunding sites take measures to vet posts, others don’t. If the poster claims they will forward funds to a specified charity, consider visiting the charity’s website on your own and giving to them directly after having checked them out.
- Are you cautious about “100%” claims in appeals? Charities have fundraising and administrative expenses. if a charity promotion claims that all funds collected will be used for relief, see if there is an explanation about how they are able to do this. Even a credit card donation will have a processing fee. For more on this topic, see our previous post.
The following is a list of BBB Accredited Charities (i.e., meets the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability). Please note that some of these charities are focused on relief efforts taking place in Israel, Gaza or both areas. Each report includes a link to the respective website of the organization that provides a description of their activities. This list will be expanded as additional BBB Accredited relief organizations come to our attention.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Anera
Helping Hand for Relief and Development
International Rescue Committee
Islamic Relief USA
Jewish National Fund
Mennonite Central Committee
Oxfam America
Penny Appeal USA
Project HOPE
Save the Children
For an online version click here
ABOUT BBB WISE GIVING ALLIANCE: BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB’s Give.org) is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of nationally soliciting charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 holistic standards that address charity governance, results reporting, finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. National charity reports are produced by BBB’s Give.org and local charity reports are produced by local Better Business Bureaus – all reports are available at Give.org.
For more information or further inquiries, contact the Wisconsin BBB at www.bbb.org/wisconsin, 414-847-6000 or 1-800-273-1002. Consumers also can find more information about how to protect themselves from scams by following the Wisconsin BBB on Facebook, Twitter, Inst
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2021, people turned to BBB more than 200 million times for BBB Business Profiles on 6.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on 25,000 charities, all available for free at BBB.org. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada and Mexico, including BBB Serving Wisconsin which was founded in 1939 and serves the state of Wisconsin.
