Donations to Emergency Relief Organizations in Turkey and the United States: A Global Study of a Joint U.N.-U.S. Appeal

The aftermath of the most powerful earthquake to hit the region in almost a century claimed thousands of people and left thousands more injured.

Governments around the world are giving aid to families who have lost their homes, as they struggle with near-freezing temperatures.

You should research the organization before donating, especially to a lesser-known one. Sites like Charity Navigator and Guidestar grade nonprofits based on transparency and effectiveness. The Internal Revenue Service also allows you to search its database to find out whether an organization is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

And if you suspect an organization or individual of committing fraud, you can report it to the National Center for Disaster Fraud, part of the Justice Department.

The Syrian American Medical Society is collecting donations to deliver emergency aid. At least one of its hospitals in northwestern Syria, Al Dana, received major damage.

Global Giving, which helps local nonprofit agencies, is collecting donations to help fund emergency medical workers’ ability to provide food, shelter and medicine, among other necessities. As needs in Turkey and Syria change, the organization will focus on long-term assistance, it said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is requesting donations for its Disaster Response Emergency Fund so it can send “immediate cash assistance.”

According to OXFAM, they are working in Turkey with women’s co-ops to come up with an immediate and long-term response plan. It is accepting donations.

CARE, an organization that works with impoverished communities, is accepting donations that will go toward food, shelter and hygiene kits, among other items.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, which since 2012 has provided medical relief and health care services inside Syria and to Syrian refugees in Turkey, is collecting money.

The U.N.’s refugee and humanitarian agencies asked for $5.6 billion to help millions of Ukrainians and other people who have fled to other countries due to the Russia invasion of their country.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is the major part of the appeal, which helps more than 11 million people by funding more than 650 partner organizations.

The joint appeal is one of the largest of its kind for a single country, which could draw in large amounts of funds from Western countries. The U.N. appeals are not often fully funded.

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said that their funding was well-funded last year. “I think the refugee appeal was funded in excess of 70% — not total, but quite good. We count on that to last.”

Grandi believed that the crisis was not the only one in the world. “There’s many others that deserve — I’m just back from Ethiopia, Burundi. Who talks about Burundi? This is what reality is, and people need support as much as anywhere else.

The appeal from the UN Refugee Agency does not apply to Russia. More than two million Ukrainians have been taken in by Russia according to figures provided by national governments.