Summing Up Katrina Relief
After six months groups are finally wrapping up the relief phase of Katrina and the Chronicle of Philanthropy provides a tally of who raised what. (The relief phase is the second stage in the disaster response model of rescue, relief, reconstruction. One measure of the impact of this disaster is the extreme length of the phases compared to other disasters.)
Here's the basic breakdown:
American Red Cross
$2.120 billion Agencies over $100 million (4)
689 million $10 mil to $100 mil (13)
353 million TOTAL
$3.162 billion
Or, roughly 2/3 went to the ARC, of the remainder, roughly 2/3 went to 4 large groups: Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund (all general relief), and Habitat for Humanity, specializing in housing.
Of the remainder, it breaks down like this:
Denominational (general relief) (4 groups)
$134 million Parachurch* groups (general relief) (3 groups)
58 million Local area foundations (general relief) (2 groups)
46 million United Way (general relief) (1 group)
46 million America's Second Harvest (food) (1 group)
30 million Humane Society of the US (animals) (1 group)
25 million AmeriCares Foundation (medical supplies) (1 group)
15 million TOTAL
$353 million
Totals do not add due to rounding.
*The "parachurch" designation refers to groups like World Vision that have a religious outlook without being associated with a particular denomination. For simplicity I have included Mercy Corps' $10 million in this group, although it has moved from a Christian to a purely humanitarian focus.
The conclusion that these numbers point to is that for this catastrope, the largest dollars flowed to the largest and most general relief agencies, with smaller but significant flows to groups serving basic material needs (food, shelter, medical supplies) and care for animals. Let's try to remember that for the next catastrophe.
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