De danske nødhjælpsorganisationer har ikke været i stand til at gå ud med en fælles appel om at bistå Pakistans oversvømmelsesofre, men samler ind hver for sig – anderledes i Storbritannien: UK provides a model for private funding of emergencies
LONDON, 6 September 2010 (IRIN): The UK’s Disaster Emergencies Committee (DEC), founded more than 45 years ago to persuade aid agencies to collaborate rather than compete in their fund-raising for emergencies, has so far raised more than 60 million US dollar (henved 350 millioner DKR) for the Pakistan flood appeal (unrelated to official UK aid).
This is the second time this year, after the Haiti earthquake, that the well-oiled machine in London has swung into action. It is a model increasingly being adopted in other countries.
The committee’s chief executive, Brendan Gormley, says its appeals are aimed at the general public, including those who are not regular donors to charities.
– When people have seen something dreadful on their televisions or heard about it on the radio, when they have seen that something can be done about it, we then make it easy for them to respond. It is a one-stop shop. We have one telephone number, one website, the banks take the money free of charge and we have a PO Box 999, which is the emergency number here in the UK, he told IRIN.
During an emergency, member agencies, including Oxfam, the British Red Cross, Concern and World Vision, can continue to take in money from their own supporters, but are not expected to advertise for donations in competition with the DEC appeal.
Jeremie Bodin, head of emergency fund-raising at Save the Children UK, says the agencies benefit from an advertising campaign on a scale they could never individually afford.
– The television appeal is free, done by the broadcasters. We can really see the difference in the amount of money raised and the amount we have to spend to raise that money. In recent appeals we have seen that we normally get between twice and five times our normal income, noted he.
Læs videre på http://www.IRINnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90395
