August 31, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
For charities formed in response to the terrorist attacks, doing good means facing challenges
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks left more than grief and mourning in their aftermath.
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They also served to inspire the creation of over 300 new charities, many of which sprang up virtually overnight to serve the needs of those left behind.
The new charities embraced widely different missions. Some raised money to provide financial assistance to the families of victims of the attacks. Others focused on children who had lost parents, seeking donations to help them obtain mental-health counseling, mentors, college scholarships, and other aid. Still other charities sought to harness the spirit of public service that seemed to emerge in the first days following the attacks.
The fledgling organizations also differed in their plans for the future. While some of the charities hoped to operate forever, others saw themselves as short-term entities, intended to meet a specific need and then dissolve.
Among the new charities were several success stories: groups that overnight became darlings of the news media and brought in millions of dollars, even as their founders grappled with the strains of having lost relatives, friends, or co-workers.
Five years after the attacks, the flow of donations has slowed considerably for most of these groups. At least a few of the most prominent September 11 groups are contemplating more modest futures, realizing that the bulk of their gifts has already arrived. Others have begun to expand their missions beyond the tragedy and are now seeking to aid victims of other disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. And for a handful of organizations, the early spotlight that accompanied their creation has since cast them in less flattering light, exposing mismanagement or a lack of sophistication in their approach to fund raising.
