Donations to Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina Surpass $580-Million

Americans have contributed at least $587-million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The pace of giving is

unprecedented in American history. In the 10 days after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Americans donated $239-million to charitable causes, and in the nine days after the tsunamis hit, major American relief groups raised $163-million.

Still, the contributions do not yet come close to the total amount raised in the wake of those disasters. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, charities raised more than $2.2-billion and U.S. charities have collected nearly $1.3-billion for the tsunamis.

The American Red Cross, in Washington, has raised far more than any other charity, taking in $439.5-million. By comparison, two and a half weeks after the South Asian tsunamis, the Red Cross had raised a little more than $173-million.

“It’s overwhelming,” says Sarah Marchetti, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. “People are just pouring their hearts out, and making a donation is an expression of that.”

The Salvation Army has raised the second-largest sum. Its national headquarters in Washington has raised $55-million, and the charity said many other local affiliates are collecting money, though it could not say how much those units had received.

Many other charities are raising smaller sums, including community foundations, United Ways, and relief groups that typically focus on humanitarian crises overseas.

Although donations came in quickly immediately after the catastrophe, some nonprofit executives worry how the economic repercussions of the hurricane will affect the overall amount of donations to the recovery effort.

“If in six months gas prices are above $4 and food prices have gone up, you could see some problems,” says Matthew De Galan, chief development officer at Mercy Corps, in Portland, Ore. The group has raised $3-million for hurricane relief efforts so far.

At some charities, the pace of donations has already begun to slow.

Several days after the hurricane, Network for Good, a Vienna, Va., charity whose online giving site allows donors to contribute to any charity, processed $3-million in one day, a record for the group. But a week after the hurricane struck, the group was recording daily totals of a little more than $550,000. Network for Good has raised $10.5-million, with about 60 percent of donors steering contributions to the Red Cross.

Major Donors

Corporations have been significant donors to the charitable efforts, as have numerous celebrities and wealthy Americans. Wal-Mart has contributed the most so far, donating $17-million. The foundation created by the company’s founders, the Walton family, also has donated $15-million to groups working on hurricane relief.

As of last week, more than $229-million had been donated by corporations, foundations, and wealthy individuals, according to a tally by The Chronicle.

Among the largest donations:

• The Lilly Endowment, in Indianapolis, donated $10-million apiece to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
• John Grisham, the author of legal thrillers, and his wife, Renee, donated $5-million to the Rebuild the Coast Fund, which they established at a Tupelo, Miss., bank to help recovery efforts in Mississippi.
• The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation gave $5-million for relief efforts.
• Boone Pickens and Leona Helmsley each gave $5-million to American Red Cross relief efforts.

Online Gifts

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the Internet has also proved to be an important source of gifts.

Of the $439.5-million the Red Cross has raised for relief efforts, $227-million has come in through the Internet.

In addition to gifts made through the organization’s own site, the search engine Yahoo and the online retailer Amazon.com are also collecting donations to the Red Cross through their Web sites, as they did after the earthquake and tsunamis that struck South Asia last December. Yahoo has collected more than $51-million, and Amazon has collected more than $10-million.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which has raised more than $8-million, had to move its Web site to more powerful servers to accommodate the volume of donations coming into the group’s two hurricane-relief funds.

“We had to change the provider to manage the volume,” says John G. Davies, president of the foundation. “It’s been coming in fast and furious.”

For a number of groups struggling to keep up with the pace of donations, the amount raised online is the only total they know for sure.

Officials at Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, in Alpharetta, Ga., report raising $1.8-million online so far, but expect that number to rise dramatically after donations roll in from its 40,000 churches, says Jonathan Wilson, a spokesman for the charity. He anticipates that when a tabulation is done, it will be the most the group has ever raised after a disaster.

Leaders at the United Way of America, in Alexandria, Va., are also unsure exactly how much the organizations has raised, although the total will include a million-dollar gift from the actor George Clooney. “We haven’t stopped to add it all up yet,” says Sheila Consaul, director of media relations. The money raised will be funneled to local United Ways to help with rebuilding, relief efforts, and long-term needs of the many people evacuated from their homes.

International Groups

The devastating scope of Hurricane Katrina has prompted some international aid groups to rethink their role domestically and prompted many of them to rush to raise money so they could provide their expertise to the hurricane relief efforts. Since sending an e-mail solicitation to 600,000 supporters, World Vision, in Federal Way, Wash., has raised $2-million for hurricane relief efforts, a departure for the group, which usually helps with international crises such as the tsunamis.

“This is new for us,” says Dean Owen, a spokesman for World Vision. “The U.S. has never had anything like this.” Charity officials are now deciding whether the group should help with recovery efforts in the short or long term.

AmeriCares, a Stamford, Conn., charity that primarily assists with disasters abroad, also sent 70,000 of its donors an e-mail requesting donations for hurricane relief. About half of the $5-million the group has raised so far has come in online. The scope of destruction prompted the group’s efforts. “This is the biggest disaster the States has seen,” says Carolyn O’Brien, the group’s senior vice president for development. “The number of people who have lost or been displaced from their homes is unprecedented.”

Other groups are also jumping into action. In Boston, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has raised $20,000 for the Natural Disasters Relief Fund, says Scott Giacoppo, a spokesman for the group. The money will be passed to animal shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi to help buy medicine, food, and supplies.

At Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston, more than $160,000 has come in for a Katrina relief fund. The money is being used to provide medical care in the Astrodome, a Houston sports arena where thousands of refugees are being housed, and to help ill children who were transferred to the hospital from New Orleans.

Some funds are just getting started. A week after the hurricane hit, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in Baltimore, Md., started soliciting donations to help victims and monitor the area’s reconstruction plans. In addition, the Pittsburgh Foundation opened two funds, one to help Gulf Coast residents relocating to Pittsburgh and the other to help victims in the affected areas. And the Southern Arts Federation, in Atlanta, has raised $300 so far to help artists and arts organizations on the Gulf Coast. “We had to do something,” says David Batley, the group’s communications and advocacy manager. “They are going to need some real help.”

Charities are also helping one another. For example, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas gave $100,000 to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army to help provide emergency relief.

In addition, the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association together contributed a total of $1-million to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, a charity established by former Presidents Bush and Clinton at the request of President George W. Bush. The unusual donation from the three charities was designed in part to help get hospitals and other health-care operations in business again so that patients can get aid.

“Even though we are disease-specific charities, and we don’t have huge endowments, we believed it was important for us to form this partnership to help deal with a calamity of this magnitude,” said John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. He added: “We still have missing staff and volunteers in the affected area, and we need to rebuild our infrastructure.”

Among the results from other organizations responding to the disaster:

• America’s Second Harvest, in Chicago, has raised $10.1-million, $3.5-million of which has come in through the Internet.
• Catholic Charities USA, in Alexandria, Va., has raised more than $7-million for relief efforts.
• The Humane Society of the United States, in Washington, has raised more than $6.5-million for relief efforts to rescue and care for animals left behind in the disaster.
• The Foundation for the Mid South, in Jackson, Miss., has raised more than $3-million, including a $1-million gift from the Entergy Corporation.
• United Jewish Communities, in New York, has raised more than $4.3-million.
• The United Methodist Committee on Relief, in New York, has raised $1.7-million from donors giving through its Web site.
• Habitat for Humanity International, in Americus, Ga., has raised $8.2-million, including $5-million from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
• Operation Blessing, a Christian relief organization in Virginia Beach, Va., has received Internet gifts totaling more than $500,000.

Suzanne Perry, M.J. Prest, Ian Wilhelm, and Grant Williams contributed to this article.