Number of Deaths Key Factor in Charity Disaster Response

Death tolls and drama are the determining factors in the level of philanthropic response to major humanitarian crises, The New York Times writes as part of its annual special section on giving.

January’s Haiti earthquake, which killed 250,000 people in swift and dramatic fashion, unleashed a worldwide giving torrent that reached $750-million in five weeks. Aid groups collected $25-million in five weeks for victims of the summer floods in Pakistan, in which far fewer people died but millions more will face devastating long-term consequences.

“Donors use the number of deaths as a barometer with disasters,” said Randy Strash, strategy director for disaster response at World Vision. With a “slow-onset disaster” such as Pakistan’s floods, he said, “you don’t have that same shock value.”

The Times’s special section also looks at the debate sparked by the Giving Pledge over mega-philanthropy and its place in society, the increasingly activist charity work of celebrities such as Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, and the trend toward limited-run foundations, among more than a dozen articles covering financial issues, the nonprofit job market, and distinctive individual organizations.