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America At War:
Giving to Charities
Color of Money
with Michelle Singletary
Post Business Columnist
Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001; 1 p.m. EDT
Live Right Now!
Close to and far away from Ground Zero there are what aid workers call
collateral victims. For months to come we will begin to see the broader economic impact of the recent tragedy. While continuing to aid the direct victims of the attacks, many charitable groups are now turning to help those who were indirectly effected as well.
As a result, if you plan to give to a disaster relief fund try not to put
restrictions on your gift. This will give charitable groups the greatest
flexibility to help as many people as they can.
Welcome to The Color of Money with Post Business columnist Michelle Singletary. Join the discussion with Ani Hurwitz, senior consultant with the New York Community Trust, which teamed up with the United Way of New York to set up the September 11th Fund. Find out what is still needed to help the victims of the terrorist attacks on America. Find out what charity organizations are during for the war relief effort. Find out what you can do to protect yourself against con artists, who are trying to use this disaster to swindle consumers out of their money. Get answers to how the money being
raised will be used.
Submit your questions in advance or during the live hour.
Hurwitz is a senior consultant with The New York Community Trust, where she is responsible for communications. Before joining The Trust in 1989, she was director communications for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. Hurwitz has worked as a consultant to a number of nonprofits in the areas of health and housing and has done several stints in New York City government.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for
guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Michelle Singletary:
Welcome. I'm glad to be here for another chat about money. Unfortunately the topic today is a sad one. As many of you know a month ago today so many of our fellow citizens lost their lives in a most tragic way. I can only imagine the pain and suffering many of the family members are going thu. But it's wonderful that so many people have opted to help by sending money to the relief efforts. However, even in our generosity we should be careful about our giving. That's what we are talking about today. So, please send in your questions.
Michelle Singletary:
Hang in there with us for a second having a bit of technical difficulties.
Michelle Singletary:
What should people do if they see businesses collecting money and promising to hand over the funds to the Sept. 11 Fund or other relief efforts? Does your organization or United Way give endorsements of such efforts?
Ani Hurwitz: We have endorsed several limited efforts to do this, we are generally not in the business of doing endorsements. People need to be careful about where they donate their money. If it's their employer, a recognized local charity in their community such as United Way or local community foundations, then they can be assured that the money will go to the Sept. 11 fund. We have endorsed the U.S. Olympic committee that have been selling pins and a portion of the proceeds are coming to the fund. But there are lots of people that are selling items -- some of them are legitimate and some of them are not. So people need to know who they are contributing to. If readers have questions, local state attorney generals, the Better Business Bureau and other watchdog agencies of charities (found in the yellow pages), and on the Sept. 11 fund web site (http://www.september11fund.org) have lists of reputable charities.
Michelle Singletary:
There has been some concern that so much money is being raised for this tradegy that other chartiable groups and their programs will suffer. Are they in danger of people having giving fatigue?
Ani Hurwitz: there is concern on the part of many nonprofits that donors who have given money for the tragedy will be less inclined to give. experience tells us that americans dig deeper during times of crisis, that giving does not decline in faltering economies. we hope that people who have felt so good about giving money for recovery efforts will remember the needs in their local communities and dig deeper--becuase it feels good and becuase it is the right thing to do.
Michelle Singletary:
Are their any figures on how much each family will be getting as a result of the millions that have been donated so far? Will the charities give consideration to lower-income families first or those without insurance and other benefits?
Ani Hurwitz: more than $5.6 million from the Fund has been distributed by Safe Horizon to about 4,000 families. Most of them are people who are not eligible for other sources of help--people who have not worked the required number of quarters to qualify to unemployment; people who are undocumented; elders who relied on adult children who died, but were not legally dependent. Our focus in lon low-income families and those without other benefits. we've also made a grant to Legal Aid to help low-income workers get access to bank accounts, and for help with wills, custody, and other financial issues
Pennsylvania:
Out of every $1.00 the United Way collects, how much goes to administrative costs and how much goes to the named beneficiaries?
Thanks.
Ani Hurwitz: The United Way of New York and the New York Community Trust have waived all administratvie fees, so that 100% will to to grants.
Michelle Singletary:
Should people stay away from solicitations for the relief effort they get over the telephone or thu e-mail? Already, I've heard of a number of people getting calls at their home encouraging that they give my putting the gift on their credit card. Do you know of any legitimate charity solicting either phone or e-mail?
Ani Hurwitz: although there may be legitimate charities solicity donations this way, it might be best to stick with the charities they know.
HLB ~ Mt. Lebanon, PA:
They've now raised more money for the relatives of 6000 folks in NYC than probably for any disaster in history. Does any of this strike you folks as grand standing or wasteful? People all over the U.S. tragically die every day and no one raises dollars for their kin. Had this occurred in Denver, Houston, Dallas, or Oakland, all the to-do would have passed by now. Thanks much.
Ani Hurwitz: this is the largest disaster in this country. in addition to the thousands of devastated lives of families who died in the attackes, an entire area of the city was destroyed. this has resulted in thousands more losing their jobs and their businesses, many of which are very small--delis, shoe repair shops, florists, etc. the economic impact has spread accross the country. the money raised will be used effectively and fairly--and is sorely needed.
Washington, D.C.:
I haven't given yet but plan to. Is there a way to help decide which organizations go to the neediest? It seems there is a lot of money being given, so I'd like to put mine where I know it is really needed. Any insight?
Ani Hurwitz: there are many organization in new york city and washington who have been helping the needy for years. you might want to give to those agencies you know.
Arlington, Va.:
Eat the Outback Steakhouse tonight! They are donating 100% of their SALES tonight to the Red Cross 9/11 fund. In other words, what you pay goes entirely to the Red Cross; Outback is covering the costs of the food. Michelle Singletary:
Now, see this kind of solicitation seems legitimate. It's a well known company. But how can consumers be assured that the entire 100 percent actually goes to the 9-11 fund? Is anybody keeping track of this? Whose watching the companies to ensure they are doing what they say?
Ani Hurwitz: it does seem legitimate. we should remember that these business rely on the trust of their customers so that they can continue to do business. and each state has an attorney general that is reponsible for monitoring charitable activity.
Michelle Singletary:
While enough can not be said about the brave efforts of the firemen and police officers who responded to this attack, many of whom lost their lives, is there a possibility that other victims will be forgotten. There doesn't seem to be as many special funds set up for the low-wage workers or people who were thrown out of their jobs because of the attacks. Are their scholarships for these victims, like restaurant workers or low-wage employees who died?
Ani Hurwitz: yes. restaurant associations and unions are setting up scholarships and other funds to help workers and their families. foundation have made and will continue to make grants specifically for low-wage workers and their families. Indeed, the September 11th Fund has this group as its focus.
Gaithersburg:
We made a donation to the United Way Sept.11 Fund soon after the attacks through their web site. The donation has not cleared our bank account yet. Should we call or email someone to check on the original donation, or should we make another contribution?
Ani Hurwitz: yes. please go to www.september11fund.org and post a query about your donation.
Wash DC:
Your comment about giving a grant to Legal Aid sounds so practical. Are there other organizations we might not readily think of that you tell us about?
Ani Hurwitz: yes, and new ones are emerging daily. we're concerened about the numbers of women who have left the welfare rolls in the last several years and are now supporting their families. with a faltering economy that has been affected by the disaster, through thousands of people out of work, manyofthese women may lose their jobs--and bump up against the 5-year limit on welfare.
We're concerned about people with Alzheimers whose children either died or lost their jobs. We're worried about the many immigrant communities who are suffering from bias-related incidents. We worry about kids who watched the events and its impact on their psyches. So the agencies that work these people--job training progrms, immigrant groups, senior citizen centers, mental health programs, can all use support.
Washington DC:
I hear SO MUCH about how we are helping the New York victims, as we should. But I hear little about how we are helping the victims of the Pentagon and of the flight that went down in PA. I recognize that the WTC was of a staggering magnitude, but ALL of the victims need our help.
Ani Hurwitz: you're right. the Fund has received donation earmarked for Washington and Pennsylvania and that money will be spend their. In addition, over the next weeks, Fund officials will be determining a fair allocation of the money to communities outside of NY that have been affected.
Michelle Singletary:
The reader from Mt. Lebanon, PA makes a good point. It's so sad that it took a tradegy like this to bring so many us together in an amazing turnout to give. But what about the many people that are in need all the time? Are we, Americans, giving enough when there isn't a national crisis like this? Do you think this will make people more aware of the need to give more in general?
Ani Hurwitz: Americans are incredibly generous. do we give enough? the needs are extraordinary. we still have homeless and hungry people, are public schools still need fixing, affordable housing still needs to be built, families still need to be strenghened. i hope that the charities who do this work will make that case over the next weeks and months and that we as a people will respond.
Boston, Mass.:
I hate to sound like the Grinch during this unprecedented period of giving, but what will all of this money raised be used for? I have heard that the total amount raised is in the hundreds of millions. While I certainly support whatever short-term and specific long-term relief (trusts for college) is needed, I want to know more specifically how donated funds will be used. I assume that the majority of the people killed in this tragedy had life insurance either privately or through their employer. I want to help the families affected in the best way possible, but I'm not sure that a lottery-like jackpot is the answer to their suffering. Especially when many other charities that are unrelated to the the Sept. 11th attacks are losing their base of donations as donors allocate their contributions to Sept. 11th charities.
Ani Hurwitz: Two assumptions may not be correct.
The first is that these workers all had insurance. There are untolled number of people, such as delivery men from restaurants in the building, men who worked in trade shops -- so there are a lot of low wage workers who don't have insurance and benefits who died in this tragedy. In addition, within days of the disaster, the entire night shift of the company that cleaned the World Trade Center were laid off. There were a lot of people immediately affected who don't have insurance and other benefits.
Secondly, the other assumptions that other non-profits will be hurt, we hope is not true. We hope that from our experience, people give more when the needs are greater. We are certainly trying to make the point that a contribution to one of the charities responding to Sept. 11 is an addition to contributions to your local charities.
The money is going, in addition to the emergency relief, to mental health counseling to the families affected, to help individuals and small businesses recover economically, and to non-profit agencies to ensure that they maintain the capacity to provide services. Many of these non-profits have provided services without contracts or grants and we need to make them whole. The money will go to job retraining and placement services, efforts to combat anti-immigrant violence and promote tolerance, and also to examine the environmental impact the disaster may have had.
Bethesda, Md.:
I've been hearing that survivors/victims are having problems meeting immediate bills. Are the United Way and Red Cross helping to provide short term funds? Where has all the money gone that has been raised by individuals and corporations.
Ani Hurwitz: $163 million has gone to the September 11th Fund.
From the September 11th Fund, more than $5.6 million has been distributed in checks to families to meet immediate bills. The Fund is in the process of making grants to help meet immediate needs and is now working to formulate guidelines for the longer term distribution of this money.
Ani Hurwitz: Readers who are interested in finding out what the September 11th Fund is doing with the generous amount of money contributed should go to our Web site
(http://www.september11fund.org). They will find out about what grants we made and find a list of other agencies and the kinds of services they are providing, a list of our contributors and daily updates. Readers should also contact their local community foundations or United Ways to see how they can help in their local communities. To find the local community foundations in your area, you can go to
http://www.communityfoundationlocator.org.
Michelle Singletary:
Well, that's all the time we have for today. I certainly want to thank Ani Hurwitz and the work her organziation, New York
Community Trust, is doing to help the many victims of this terrible trouble. In fact, we all should commend the
chartiable organizations, Red Cross, United Way, Salvation Army, for moving so quickly
and compassionately to help during this crisis. And, we should all remember the need is still great both for
the relief efforts and for non-profits assisting people not associated with this tradegy.
As always, thanks for joining me and I hope you have a peaceful and financially healthy day.
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