Misleading Analysis of the Katrina Effect

To the Editor:

Your headline “Hurricane Donations Did Not Hurt Other Gifts, Study Finds” (May 4) is the latest unfortunate example of the top line of the story misleading readers as to the true impact of Katrina relief on individual giving to so many nonprofits.

The body of the article states that 9 out of 10 Americans who donated to hurricane-relief efforts said that they also gave money to charities that they traditionally support. Putting aside the unanswered question of whether those 90 percent gave less, one can only infer that 10 percent did not support their usual causes at all. And we all know that a 10-percent decline in an individual giving year — even half of that — is no small problem for a charity.

This piece is just the latest example where a “rosy” headline simply does not match the details of the story.

In your earlier coverage on the same topic, one had to read well into an article to see that it was an uptick in one particular area of giving — such as corporate gifts — that saved the bottom line for some charities in 2005. Or that surveys showing an overall lift in giving in 2005 were skewed because they included groups that were involved in hurricane relief and of course experienced a surge in donations last fall. The mention that so many charities did not emerge unscathed is almost lost in the detail.

Aspects of your reporting on this one leave many nonprofit leaders, who well know what their own numbers show, scratching their heads about the last quarter of 2005 — and more important, wondering what to do next.

Harry Lynch
Chief Executive Officer
Sanky Communications
New York