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GlobalGiving Channels Relief to Tsunami Disaster Zone

GlobalGiving Channels Relief to Tsunami Disaster Zone

Published 01-06-05

Submitted by GlobalGiving

WASHINGTON, DC - GlobalGiving, a global internet portal acting as an 'E-Bay' for development, has dedicated web space for relief and reconstruction within the tsunami disaster zone in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Donors have the option to contribute to a general relief fund for each impacted country, or to one of twenty specific projects.

By linking citizens and companies as 'buyers' with local and international development organizations as 'sellers' of project-specific needs, GlobalGiving (globalgiving.com) applies online community and web technology to entirely new territory - territory whose 'merchandise' is the social and economic growth of developing countries. The GlobalGiving Tsunami Relief page may be found at www.globalgiving.com/tsun.html.

Examples of specific projects website donors may adopt include:

  • Emergency support to the medical care infrastructure in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Medical teams receive supplies to treat the estimated 10,000 injured survivors in the district of Kanchipuram alone. Repair of damaged medical facilities and reconstruction of destroyed facilities will restore infrastructure coverage prior to the disaster.

  • Identify and train trauma recovery assistants in the Banda Aceh community of Indonesia. Assistants will support general relief efforts, provide psychosocial support to survivors, and conduct initial outreach efforts to identify potential foster parents for children orphaned by the tsunami.

  • Creation of 24 refugee centers in the Galle area of Sri Lanka to provide relief and rehabilitation services to the 5,000 families who have lost their homes and other property. Centers will provide immediate medical care, food and water.
  • All donations pass through the GlobalGiving Foundation, with financial transaction support provided by Visa through a sponsorship agreement. As part of the Foundation's response to the tsunami disaster, 100% of donor funds are guaranteed to pass to the development projects funded, up to $100,000.

    As part of its reach across all segments of the US donor community, GlobalGiving has entered into partnership arrangements with corporations who use the site as a part of their employee giving programs. Companies such as HP, Gap and The North Face are fully matching employee contributions for tsunami relief. Gap is exceptional by doubling their employees' contributions, while The North Face has innovated by matching the contributions of both its employees and its customers. The North Face has even adopted its own relief activity to repair or replace boats, nets and other equipment to 300 fisherman in India. Both HP and The North Face include a prominent link to globalgiving.com on their home websites.

    Through its outreach efforts, GlobalGiving has channeled nearly $1 million in grant support from citizens and corporations directly to local development projects around the world, and has the capacity to deliver millions more for disaster relief. As attention shifts from immediate relief to reconstruction and rehabilitation, the importance of GlobalGiving as a mechanism for sustainable development will only increase. GlobalGiving has received funding from the US Agency for International Development and various civil society donors such as the Skoll, Omidyar, Kelogg and Mott Foundations.

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    GlobalGiving

    GlobalGiving

    GlobalGiving is the first and largest global crowdfunding community. We promote a virtuous circle of good by helping nonprofits, individual donors, and companies enhance the effectiveness of locally-led projects around the world. We work with companies on their strategic community investment, employee engagement and cause marketing programs to strengthen thousands of nonprofits in more than 165 countries.

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