January 9, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
The problems surrounding charities’ response to September 11 should prompt the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help national nonprofit organizations develop strategies for disaster relief, said the General Accounting Office in a new report.
While nonprofit disaster-relief groups, such as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, took steps to coordinate their services in the months after the attacks, aid recipients complained that they still had to navigate a labyrinth of procedures to receive assistance, said the GAO, the investigative and research arm of Congress.
To avoid confusion in future emergencies, the report said, FEMA should work with charities to draw up a common application form for people applying for assistance, and should help charities agree to follow a single policy for protecting the confidentiality of aid recipients.
In addition, it said that FEMA and charities should work together to come up with a way to demonstrate to the public how their donations are being spent during an emergency.
John R. D’Araujo, assistant director of FEMA’s Response and Recovery Directorate, said coordinating charities without stifling their independence would be a challenge, but that his agency would carry out the accounting office’s recommendation.
The American Red Cross told the GAO that charities have already started working on ideas similar to ones the agency is recommending. Red Cross officials expressed “some concern” about FEMA or any other government organization becoming involved, the report said.
Iowa Senator Charles E. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, which oversees nonprofit groups, requested the report.
“September 11: More Effective Collaboration Could Enhance Charitable Organizations’ Contributions in Disasters” is on the GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03259.pdf.
