By: Christian Williams, Social Enterprise and Visibility Specialist
I’ll admit it - you can enroll me in NPRAA.
National Public Radio Addicts Anonymous.
I was on my typical evening commute from the office,
listening to NPR’s All Things Considered as usual, and ended up getting sucked
into a story
about how some charities are having to TURN AWAY donations. I was stunned to
hear that many charities, especially organizations that respond to national
disasters, get so overwhelmed by donations that they have to say ‘No.’
Obviously, the response of the public for their neighbors in
need is something to smile about; however, too many people send items that
aren’t needed. The organizations prefer cash, which can then be used to
purchase the necessary materials needed to respond to the recovery efforts.
However, many donors
just send clothing and other items because they think they can be used in some
way (somehow, the American Red Cross ended up with a box of Frisbees).
In my opinion, some donors just see the situation as a
reason to clean out their closets, all while feeling good about their decision
to discard an item or two by connecting it with an urgent
cause. Others want to provide items instead of money because they are skeptical
of the charity and don’t want their hard-earned dollars to go misused.
I was even more surprised to hear that these piles of un-needed
donations prevent needed supplies from getting to their destination on time.
The story described a plane with water and food items that had to be diverted
to an airport much further because the tarmac at the original airport was
filled with clothes. Those supplies took an extra two days to be delivered to
their final destination.
So with all of these donations flowing in, how can a
responding organization avoid the ‘second
disaster’? One member of Occupy Sandy, the response effort to Hurricane
Sandy that stands as an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, became an innovator
when he swiped up a laptop, began
an Amazon registry for the effort and listed the items needed in the effort
toward recovery.
Diapers and cleaning supplies were listed. Clothes weren’t.
Donors were told that they could not send in individual
items. Instead, they were directed toward the registry and told to provide the
necessary funding for a concrete item needed in the effort.
And the effort worked. Occupy received all of their
necessary supplies (including generators), and cut down drastically on the
amount of junk by catering to their donors’ needs - the need to provide
concrete assistance.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little out-of-the-box thinking
to come up with the solution for a pressing problem.
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