Posted: 5/21/03
Charitiees find donors cool to Iraq aid
By Mark O'Keefe
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)–Charities ramping up U.S. campaigns to benefit war-torn Iraq are finding the early fund-raising climate much cooler than the 100-degree temperatures troops faced in the desert.
The reason? Many potential donors haven't yet perceived a compelling need.
“Iraq has not resonated with the American public as an object of private philanthropy,” said Richard Walden, president of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based relief group. “If we could put the solution in a bottle, we would.”
Experts offer a variety of explanations for the sluggish start:
The war hasn't caused the full-blown humanitarian crisis many had expected. The United Nations, for example, had predicted up to 1.5 million Iraqi refugees would flee for neighboring countries. Dozens of charities have been at the borders, waiting with help, but only a handful of refugees have come.
Journalists fixated for weeks on battlefield news are just beginning to tell the heart-wrenching people stories that motivate donors.
Many charities, unable to enter the country during the war, are only now assessing Iraqi problems, much less prescribing specific solutions that some donors–especially large ones–require before giving generously.
Some Americans figure that whatever problems do emerge are the responsibility of their government, which has already committed billions of dollars for relief and reconstruction.
But the $2.5 billion approved by Congress “is just a drop in the bucket when you look at the needs of Iraq,” said Bathsheba Crocker, co-director of a project on postwar Iraq at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Charities play an indispensable role, helping people in ways government cannot, especially in this early stage of recovery when many Iraqis lack safe water and competent medical care, Crocker said.
Still, it's a tough sell.
Mercy Corps hopes to raise $2 million for Iraq in two months. In 21 days, it raised slightly more than $280,000–despite a radio and television advertising blitz, the latter on Al-Jazeera in an attempt to capture the attention of Arab and Muslim Americans.
The group's 1999 efforts for war-torn Kosovo, by comparison, garnered $1.6 million in the first 21 days.
A big difference between the two is the media, officials believe. In Kosovo, television showed thousands of refugees leaving their homes in fear. In Iraq, the main problem has been people staying in their homes without suitable water–a far less compelling story.
“Unfortunately, the images folks are seeing on the TV lately are of Iraqis looting their country, which is not likely to prompt people to dig deeply into their pockets,” said James Bishop, director of humanitarian response for InterAction, an alliance of 160 international relief and development groups based in the United States.
Some charities simply say the right time for major fundraising has not arrived.
Atlanta-based CARE already is working in Baghdad, restoring electricity, for example, to the 1,200-bed Al Yarmuk General Hospital, which was shelled during the war. But CARE has decided to create a detailed assessment of Iraqis' problems and the charity's solutions before making its pitch.
“We could go out and be very vague right now and say CARE will respond, just give to help Iraq,” said Brian Cowart, CARE's director of direct marketing. “But our donors expect us to be more specific.”
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