conuly | *frowns*

Try Doctors Without Borders (here (http://www.msf.org)), Oxfam (here (http://www.oxfam.org.uk/)), or maybe Action Against Hunger (here (http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/)). There are other charities (many of them religious, though not evangelical), but I'm too lazy to list them.

Actually, here's something better--a list of charities you can donate to from the Christian Science Monitor:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1229/p10s01-usgn.html

If you go to the google homepage, they have a link at the bottom with lots of them.

I've been told that the International Red Cross is more reputable than the American Red Cross.

Oxfam is good, as is Medecins sans Frontiers (Doctos Without Borders).

I volunteered with the Red Crescent (Red Cross for Muslim countries) when I was younger, and I have friends who are really dedicated to the Red Crescent, but nowhere did they ever charge for help.

I wonder if you can donate to a specific RC country?

There are too many fine lines with sleeping. I am spacy and ill if I sleep too little, but also if I sleep too much. Perhaps that's what happened with you..

You can often find out how much of each dollar is used directly by searching through the websites.

Some quick poking around revealed that Action Against Hunger uses $.91 of every dollar (http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/who/legal.html), Doctors Without Borders spends a little over 85% (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/info.shtml) of its donate money directly on its programs, with the rest going to management and fundraising, and Oxfam uses 79p of every pound. (It seems Oxfam's servers are under stress, so I can't get back to the page that says that, or get to the American branch's page.)

Just look under the "donations" or "legal" section of charity websites and you'll probably the info you want.

Try this place () for a directory of relief organisations. Can't help on the %age thing, but poking around in the legal section seems the best thing to do.

My friend Andy, who has been to Indonesia several times, including during the political unrest in 1998, says that Doctors Without Borders is a good organization; I guess he doesn't recognize many of the other org's that have cropped up recently to help out.

I donate to Plan USA (http://www.planusa.org) through a child sponsorship-- they have a good program and an emergency child relief fund to help kids during emergencies like this (Well, usually much smaller emergencies, actually). They also have a program to end child trafficking-- which is going to be a HUGE problem with the number of children who just became separated from their families or orphaned, and who are basically lost, traumatized, and at serious risk for being taken by traffickers. Plan USA is not a "convert to Christianity and get food" type of organization.

I have never had a problem with the Red Cross, and soldiers I've spoken to say it's a great organization, but who knows if that's always the case, right? I'd say that claim of your mother's probably deserves more research, to be honest.

ALL non-profit organizations in the US must disclose their financial statement, including what percentage of their money goes towards "the mission," whatever that mission be. 70% towards the mission is considered good-- anything less is really too much overhead. 85% or greater is excellent.

I'd say that claim of your mother's probably deserves more research, to be honest.

Oh, probably, but it's not like it's the only charity around, is it? So right or wrong, she can still donate without me having to research the Red Cross. I wouldn't even know what to look for.

Give.org (http://www.give.org), operated by the BBB, has statistics on the efficiency of charities, and also has a current section on the Tsunami relief.

The Center for International Disaster Information (http://www.cidi.org) has information on a number of present disasters, and also has one of the most comprehensive lists of tsunami aid organizations I've seen so far. They also have a very helpful FAQ.

Amazon (http://www.amazon.com) seems to have become the preferred site for donating money to the American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org), which despite it's problems is still an organization that I think is best able to respond to the massive aid required. Doctors are good. Food is good. There are organizations that are wonderful in their select areas. But the overall massive response of "everything else" - generators, shelter, communication, vehicles, etc etc, is I think handled wonderfully by the various arms of the Red Cross (American, International and Crescent).

I'm glad that someone can understand my not writing about the tsunami...