Give to a Charity

When most people first hear about the injustices of the chocolate industry, they are surprised. "Why haven't I heard about this before?" and "Why isn't this on the frontpage of the newspaper?" are reactions we have heard.

On this page, we hope to alert you to (or remind you of) other humanitarian emergencies facing people in the poorer parts of the world. We include an essay, The Sanctity of the Individual, describing why we think it is important to donate to people living in extreme poverty. We also include concise and easy-to-read information about crises facing less-developed nations. As these crises are complex and constantly changing, we include links to other informative, more in-depth sites. We hope this information compels you to want to help.

For this reason, we also include descriptions of and links to charities working on each specific emergency. At these charity sites, with the push of a button, you can significantly improve the lives of people on the other side of the world. We hope that this user-friendly design, with information and links to charities side-by-side, will encourage you to donate.

If you know what cause you want to support, search for charities that support it with Charity Navigator. Or, if you know to which charity you want donate, check it out with Charity Navigator. "Charity Navigator works to guide intelligent giving. [They] help charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on over four thousand charities and by evaluating the financial health of each of these charities. [They] ensure our evaluations are widely used by making them easy to understand and freely available to the public. By guiding intelligent giving, [they] aim to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace, in which givers and the charities they support work in tandem to overcome our nation's most persistent challenges."

1. Charity Sites

In this section, we list charities that accept donations to directly help people in poorer parts of the world. These sites also contain up-to-date information on emergencies around the world.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Appeals. This page contains information about the programs the IFRC plans to launch this year in "organisational development, health and care in the community, disaster management, humanitarian values, and coordination and representation." This page contains a PDF for each region and country the IFRC plans to work in, with information about the hardships facing each.

CARE "works with poor communities in more than 70 countries around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty." "CARE is one of the world's largest private international humanitarian organizations, committed to helping families in poor communities improve their lives and achieve lasting victories over poverty."

Oxfam International | Sites "is a confederation of 12 organizations working together with over 3000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice. ... Oxfam International seeks increased worldwide public understanding that economic and social justice are crucial to sustainable development. We strive to be a global campaigning force promoting the awareness and motivation that comes with global citizenship whilst seeking to shift public opinion in order to make equity the same priority as economic growth."

Doctors without Borders "is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in nearly 70 countries. Each year, MSF volunteer doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other medical and non-medical professionals depart on more than 3,400 aid missions. They work alongside more than 16,000 locally hired staff to provide medical care."

Bairo Pite Clinic "is an integral part of [East Timor's] struggling health care system and one of very few free clinics in the country. ... In addition to the 400 patients who come to the clinic every day for trusted, quality care in their local languagem Bairo Pite places emphasis on training East Timorese paramedics, nurses and support staff (many who have been unable to continue their schooling since 1999)." For donations from the United States, visit .

The UN Refugee Agency "is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. In more than five decades, the agency has helped an estimated 50 million people restart their lives. Today, a staff of more than 6,000 people in more than 116 countries continues to help some 19 million persons."

World Health Organization "is the United Nations specialized agency for health".

Save the Children "responds to any emergency that puts at great risk the survival, protection, and well-being of significant numbers of children, where addressing the needs and well-being of those children is beyond the indigenous coping capacity ... Save the Children's response to humanitarian crises includes the rapid provision of life-saving relief aid and programs to reinforce the capacity of households to ensure their own security. [They] also promote programs to strengthen the capacity of families and communities to provide care, support and protection for children."

International Rescue Committee "is a world leader in relief, rehabilitation, protection, post-conflict development, resettlement services and advocacy for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. At work in 25 countries, the IRC delivers lifesaving aid in emergencies, rebuilds shattered communities, cares for war-traumatized children, rehabilitates health care, water and sanitation systems, reunites separated families, restores lost livelihoods, establishes schools, trains teachers, strengthens the capacity of local organizations and supports civil society and good-governance initiatives."

African Medical and Research Foundation's (AMREF) "mission is to improve the health of disadvantaged people in Africa as a means for them to escape poverty and improve the quality of their lives." Their areas of focus are "HIV/AIDS, TB and STDs, Malaria, Safe Water and Basic Sanitation, Family Health, Clinical Services, Disaster Management and Emergency Response, and Training and Health Learning Materials." "AMREF is the continent's leading health development organisation. AMREF has offices in 5 Eastern and Southern African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda [and] field offices in Somalia and Sudan."

Mercy Corps "alleviates suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities." "Mercy Corps is an international family of humanitarian agencies that reaches more than seven million people each year."

Concern is "committed to the relief, assistance and advancement of peoples in need in less developed areas of the world, while concentrating on the poorest people in its countries of operation. [Concern's] work helps people living in absolute poverty achieve major improvements in their lives which last and spread without ongoing support from Concern Worldwide. [Concern] work[s] with the poor and with local and international partners who share our vision of democratic and just societies."

PATH "is an international, nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. PATH's mission is to improve the health of people around the world by advancing technologies, strengthening systems, and encouraging healthy behaviors."

World Vision International "is a Christian relief and development organisation working for the well being of all people, especially children. Through emergency relief, education, health care, economic development and promotion of justice, World Vision helps communities help themselves. Established in 1950 to care for orphans in Asia, World Vision has grown to embrace the larger issues of community development and advocacy for the poor in its mission to help children and their families build sustainable futures."

Christian Children's Fund "creates an environment of hope and respect for children in need in which they have opportunities to achieve their full potential, and provides children, families and communities with practical tools for positive change."

United Nations Children's Fund "is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF ... strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress. UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children - victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation and those with disabilities. UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children."

Feed the Children "is a Christian, international, nonprofit relief organization ... that delivers food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to individuals, children and families who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty or natural disaster." "During [their] 25-year history, Feed The Children has created and developed one of the world's largest private organizations dedicated to feeding hungry people. Last year, Feed The Children shipped 146 million pounds of food and other essentials to children and families in all 50 states and in 57 foreign countries. Feed The Children supplemented 1,040,710 meals a day, worldwide."

Cure International "provides physical and spiritual healing for disabled children in the developing world. As a faith-based, nonprofit organization, CURE's attention is focused on excellence - excellence in medical care, compassion, training, and in the quality of the equipment and facilities."

Islamic Relief "strives to alleviate the suffering, hunger, illiteracy and diseases worldwide without regard to color, race or creed and to provide aid in a compassionate and dignified manner. It aims to provide rapid relief in the event of man-made or natural disasters. In addition, it establishes development projects in needy areas to help tackle poverty, illiteracy and disease at a local level."

American Jewish World Service "is an independent not-for-profit organization founded in 1985 to help alleviate poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the world regardless of race, religion or nationality. It breathes life into Judaism's imperative to pursue justice and helps American Jews act upon a deeply felt obligation to improve the chances for survival, economic independence and human dignity for all people."

Africare's "programs address needs in the principal areas of food security and agriculture as well as health and HIV/AIDS. Africare also supports water resource development, environmental management, basic education, microenterprise development, governance initiatives and emergency humanitarian aid. Africare now reaches families and communities in 26 countries in every major region of Sub-Saharan Africa, from Mali to South Africa and from Senegal to Mozambique. Since its founding in 1970, Africare has delivered more than $450 million in assistance - 2,000 projects - to 36 countries Africa-wide."

Tamils Rehabilitation Organization aims are to bring "much needed relief and long-term rehabilitation [to] the displaced Tamil people from the North and East of Sri Lanka" "by facilitating the provision of food, clothing and shelter" and to "provide help via self development programs amongst the people of North-eastern Sri Lanka." TRO's key programs include caring for destitute children, nutritional rehabilitation (TRO reports that over 50% of Tamil children under the age of 5 suffer from acute malnutrition), and emergency relief programs.
From Human Rights Watch:
"Although the TRO claims to be a humanitarian NGO, it is widely acknowledged to be closely linked to the LTTE [the LTTE is the Tamil rebel group in Sri Lanka regarded by some as a terrorist organization]. Local sources in Trincomalee told Human Rights Watch that many TRO representatives are former LTTE soldiers. The TRO is controlled largely by the LTTE, and its credibility is riddled with allegations about its political motives. According to Canadian intelligence sources, the TRO raises funds from Tamils abroad which it claims to use to assist displaced peoples and former child soldiers in Sri Lanka, but channels much of the money directly to the LTTE."
In spite of these allegations, we include the TRO because Charity Navigator awarded it a four-star rating, because it is a U.S.-acredited charity, and because, given the situation in Sri Lanka, it is one of the few organizations providing aid to Tamils in the north-east of Sri Lanka.

Asha for Education "is a secular organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change." Asha efficiently supports a large number of education-related projects in most states in India by funding schools for poorer children, making education relevant in rural communities, and providing scholarships to individual children.

Health Alliance International's mission "is to improve the health and welfare of disenfranchised peoples and [work] toward more equitable delivery of health services worldwide." It is associated with the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Currently, HAI works in Mozambique and East Timor to develop sustainable primary health care for returning refugees.

Catholic Relief Services is "the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community." Catholic Relief Services "provides humanitarian relief and development assistance." They "connect [their] U.S.-based supporters to opportunities to educate and advocate for the poorest of the poor in 99 countries worldwide." They "provide relief in times of disaster, while also laying the foundation for developing stronger communities for the future. Our current portfolio of programming includes: Agriculture, Community Health, Education, Emergency Response, HIV/AIDS, Microfinance, Peacebuilding, Safety Net Programming, and U.S. Based Education and Advocacy Activities. Woven within each CRS program are common themes that drive each CRS decision and action. These themes - Capacity Building, Food Security , Gender and Justice - teach communities how to become self-sustaining, through tolerance, understanding and solidarity."

The Fund for East Timor "is a non-profit organization in the United States, founded to support the reconstruction and development of East Timor. Chaired by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Senior Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation José Ramos-Horta, and leading Presidential candidate Xanana Gusmao, the Fund for East Timor partners with Timor Aid and other established non-profit organizations to meet the critical needs of the country."

2. The Sanctity of the Individual

According to the UN, more than a billion people live in extreme poverty; six million children die of starvation every year; 6,000 people are killed by AIDS every day; and a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth every minute. Faced with these numbers, what can we possibly do? How can we hope to make any difference? Why even bother to try?

Please read the essay The Sanctity of the Individual, which is an argument against our indifference to the suffering of others.

3. Humanitarian Emergencies.

In this section, we describe humanitarian emergencies we have researched. We include histories and causes of these emergencies, the challenges currently confronting those caught in these crises, actions we can take to help them (including charities accepting donations), and links to other sources of information on these emergencies.

East Timor is beginning to recover from a 24-year Indonesian occupation during which at least a quarter of its population was slain or died of starvation. Before Indonesian militias left East Timor in 1999, they razed the country, destroying crops, livestock, and at least 80% of all infrastructure. They massacred 1,300 people and forced 300,000 into West Timor as refugees.
Read More.

Sri Lanka has suffered two decades of civil war and was devastated by the 2004 tsunami, suffering more casualties than any nation other than Indonesia. In addition, the Sri Lankan government has been slow to rebuild because of corruption, bureaucracy, and political disagreements.
Read More.

4. Stay Up-To-Date

There are a number of online sources of up-to-date on crises around the world. In this section, we list sites whose sole purpose is to provide information on crises.

ReliefWeb "is the world's leading on-line gateway to information (documents and maps) on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. An independent vehicle of information, designed specifically to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance, it provides timely, reliable and relevant information as events unfold, while emphasizing the coverage of 'forgotten emergencies' at the same time. ReliefWeb was launched in October 1996 and is administered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)."

Reuters AlertNet "is a humanitarian news network based around a popular website. It aims to keep relief professionals and the wider public up-to-date on humanitarian crises around the globe." "AlertNet focuses its resources on covering fast-moving humanitarian emergencies and on the early warning of future emergencies. In so doing we provide relatively little on economic development which is a closely related subject and makes up the majority of the work of AlertNet member NGOs."

Crisis Pictures "publish[es] the pictures the mainstream media exclude, every day. Crisis Pictures is a primary source. Most of the time, if [they] didn't buy these pictures, they would not appear on the internet (or any other medium) at all. [Their] simple message is, 'this is happening and we must do something.' Their service is a forum for conversation about what that 'something' might be. ... By showing the consequences of policies, Crisis Pictures demands viewers reflect on their values. The child in Fallujah, bleeding to death in their mother's arms, the bulldozed home in a refugee camp in Gaza, the eight year old boy missing an arm in Liberia-, is this the world you thought you were building?"

World Food Programme is the United Nations program devoted to "freeing the world from hunger."

United Nations Development Programme "is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners." "UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women."

US AID is "the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms."

East Timor Action Network "was founded in November 1991 to support genuine self-determination and human rights for the people of East Timor in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1960 United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Decolonization, and Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on East Timor. [Their] primary focus has been to change US foreign policy and raise public awareness to support justice and self-determination and now genuine independence for East Timor and human rights in Indonesia. In February 2001, ETAN revised its mission statement to reflect its coming independence."

Amnesty International "is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights."

Human Rights Watch "is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world." "Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world. Human Rights Watch then publishes those findings in dozens of books and reports every year, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. This publicity helps to embarrass abusive governments in the eyes of their citizens and the world. Human Rights Watch then meets with government officials to urge changes in policy and practice -- at the United Nations, the European Union, in Washington and in capitals around the world. In extreme circumstances, Human Rights Watch presses for the withdrawal of military and economic support from governments that egregiously violate the rights of their people. In moments of crisis, Human Rights Watch provides up-to-the-minute information about conflicts while they are underway. Refugee accounts, which were collected, synthesized and cross-corroborated by our researchers, helped shape the response of the international community to recent wars in Kosovo and Chechnya."