Opinion: Growth Presents Challenges for Mercy Corps

An Oregonian column explores the challenges facing Portland’s Mercy Corps as it grows into a major player in global humanitarian efforts.

Mercy Corps, which began as a “small and scrappy relief effort,” has expanded into a $244-million aid organization with some 120,000 donors, columnist Susan Nielsen writes. The charity, which “once boasted spending only 5 percent a year” on fund raising and overhead, spent 13 percent on such costs last year and recently moved into “sleek new headquarters” in central Portland, she said.

Such changes are “both exciting and unnerving” for donors as they consider which charities to support in tough economic times, Ms. Nielsen writes.

Yesterday Mercy Corps announced a $10-million gift from Qatar Charity to provide economic assistance to families in the Gaza Strip.