Giving Compass' Take:

· To address the devastating damage caused by the wildfires in California, Jenny Stefanotti at Medium provides donors with a few organizations that are working to help those affected. 

· What are some other ways to get involved with natural disaster recovery? 

· Here's more on California's wildfires. 

When there’s a major disaster happening in the world, many of us feel compelled to help however we can. Sometimes we give donations in kind, like food, clothing, etc. It’s nice to feel good about cleaning out your closet and getting rid of half of the preposterous amount of toys your kids have at home (maybe that’s just me). In very limited instances, there is a case for giving away things. If you’re planning to give those goods directly to your own community where you know what’s needed, it could save the resources associated with buying new vs. repurposing used goods. Broadly speaking though, in kind gifts create a massive amount of overhead and waste for disaster relief efforts. Cash is much better.

Fortunately almost universally, the way we help in times of crisis is through charitable giving. Despite the benefits of dollars over goods, I always cringe inside a bit. Okay maybe a lot. Of course, I love to see the outpouring of generosity that comes when disaster hits. But, I know how inefficiently that capital gets allocated.

We give almost entirely opportunistically. Maybe we do it where there’s the least resistance: a friend posted about an organization he or she just donated to on social media. We can checking the box to giving for the disaster de jour in just a few clicks, done. Or maybe we read an article like this NYT piecewhich list of orgs to consider giving to. There we tend to decide where to give based on whether we recognize the name of an organization or whether the specific causes resonate with us (e.g. perhaps you’re most interested in supporting the many undocumented migrant workers deeply affected by these fires).

Read the full article about helping out with California's wildfires by Jenny Stefanotti at Medium.