International Nonprofits Best Suited to Address Global Refugee Crisis, Study Finds

Title: Aurora Humanitarian Index

Organization: Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

Summary: A survey about the public’s attitude toward humanitarian issues found a rise in the level of trust in global political leaders as well business and philanthropic leaders such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to resolve the refugee crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was seen as the most capable political leader to handle the crisis. Forty-six percent of respondents said so, which is 13 percent more than believed that in 2017. Merkel was followed by President Trump, at 40 percent, up 10 percentage points from last year.

Forty-one percent thought Bill Gates was the most capable business leader to address refugee issues, followed by Mark Zuckerberg, at 35 percent.

Respondents felt international nonprofits were best suited to raise awareness of issues and engage the support of governments, while local and grass-roots nonprofits were better at delivering on-the-ground support.

More than 10,000 people in 12 countries responded to the survey. This is the third annual study by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

Among the other findings:

• Respondents said terrorism remains the most pressing humanitarian issue facing the world today.
• 77 percent of U.S. respondents wanted to know how their charitable donations to aid groups would be used, and 63 percent said they research nonprofits to decide where to give.
• 67 percent of Americans agreed that nonprofits would have a greater impact if they received more support from governments.
• 65 percent of respondents over all agreed that many of the world’s humanitarian challenges would be worse if not for the efforts of charities.