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Yemen's Cholera Crisis: Donor Alert

   Aug 24, 2017

CharityWatch announces a list of highly efficient and accountable charities involved in efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen.

ATTENTION: The charities listed in this alert were Top-Rated by CharityWatch at the time of its publication. CharityWatch updates our ratings throughout the year. To see if a particular charity is currently Top-Rated, please click on its name, below.

Over the past two and a half years, war has occupied the country of Yemen. Malnutrition and poor sanitation have made Yemen susceptible to many diseases that are no longer considered threats to populations in other parts of the world. Cholera has killed more than 2,000 people and has infected more than a half million people in the past few months of 2017.

Yemen has long been the Middle East’s most poverty-stricken country. Cholera is not usually a life-threatening illness and can easily be cured with antibiotic medications, but excessive malnutrition and poor sanitation have made Yemen’s people, especially children, extremely vulnerable to the disease. Due to the collapse of infrastructure, aid organizations are struggling to provide critical medical and nutritional support.

According to the United Nations, this is the worst cholera outbreak in the midst of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Over 60% of the population is at risk of famine. Thousands of people fall ill each day. Nearly 80% of Yemen’s children need immediate humanitarian aid. The people of Yemen need international support in order to stop the spread of cholera.

The Related Charities listed below perform favorably in relation to CharityWatch benchmarks:

1)  A charity should spend at least 75% of its budget on program services.
2)  A charity should spend no more than $25 to raise $100.

Contact your favorite charities to find out if they provide the specific types of aid that you would like to fund, e.g., emergency shelters, food and water, health care, psychological trauma counseling, etc.

DONORS BEWARE

As with any charitable contribution, Americans wanting to help with humanitarian relief efforts should only give to legitimate charities with an established track record of helping people in need.

  • Be on guard for a surge of solicitations related to any highly publicized crisis. There will be fraudulent charity solicitations, some involving websites and email links attempting to steal your credit card information for identity theft or insert malware on your computer.
  • Do not respond to, or click on any attachments, links or pictures included in, emails or text messages received from unknown senders.
  • Social media will include many fake victims. Do not donate to unknown individuals purporting to need aid that post on Facebook, GoFundMe, etc. These may be fraudsters, and even if they are legitimate victims, they may receive an unfairly large amount of aid.
  • Scammers may try to use copy-cat names similar to those of well-known charities. Avoid name confusion by independently verifying that the charity is legitimate before you donate. Reputable charities will not pressure you to give immediately.
  • Beware of individuals or others claiming to be third party intermediaries for charities or those in need. It is best to give directly only to the charities that you are confident are legitimate and recognized for providing humanitarian relief.

SEND A CHECK, NOT GOODS

The best way to help is by sending a check or donating securely by credit card. Such cash donations enable charities to buy the most needed types of food, medicine, clothing, shelter materials, and other supplies. By buying relief products locally or regionally, charities can reduce shipping costs and more rapidly deliver assistance. Before sending any goods, first contact the charity to find out if they are appropriate and if it will be cost effective to distribute them. For example, after a tsunami in the Pacific, boxes of donated winter coats, scarves and fuzzy hats, completely useless items in tsunami-stricken nations with tropical climates, were sent.

CharityWatch identifies the following Top-Rated charities, which are providing humanitarian relief to Yemen and receive an “A” or “B+” grade based on the portion of their budget going to program services and their fundraising efficiency. Top-Rated charities also must meet CharityWatch's Governance and Transparency benchmarks. Contact the organizations below for information on specific relief operations now underway.

Related Charities