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New for 2015: How to help Syrian (and other) refugees

"I Hope Humanity Finds a Cure for Visas" by Khalid Albaih
“I Hope Humanity Finds a Cure for Visas” by Khalid Albaih

Updated 9/2/15: The refugee crisis in Europe has many asking how they can direct their funds and attention to Syrian and other refugees here. There are many different initiatives, but here are a few good ones I’ve found:

 

Two years ago, I wrote a post about how you can help Syrian refugees. While I stand by the information in that post, I decided to write a fresh one that includes newer organizations. This post also includes some repeats from the last. Many thanks to Lina Sergie Attar and Sima Diab for their help.

As I explained last time, I’ve highlighted organizations that are 501(c)(3) US-based nonprofits and receive high marks from GuideStar and Charity Navigator, with a couple of notable exceptions.

Suggestions are in no particular order:

  • Save the Children is an internationally known organization (95.01/100 on Charity Navigator) and 501(c)(3) nonprofit that currently maintains a Syrian children in crisis fund. Their program is unique in that they’re working to create “child-friendly spaces” to give children in refugee communities ” a safe space to play and get support while keeping their minds off the harsh reality they are facing.”  This is important in that psychological help is as needed in a crisis as medical and other care.  Guidestar also ranks Save the Children highly, with a Gold-level mark in the Exchange.
  • The Syrian American Medical Society Foundation received a Silver ranking from Guidestar‘s Exchange and is not yet ranked on Charity Navigator (which requires 7 years of IRS filings). The organization has local programs in Lebanon and southern Syria. Their own annual report states that only 1% of donations went toward overhead costs in 2013.
  • Basmeh & Zeitooneh is unranked because it’s not a US charity, but Syrian and Lebanese friends speak highly of it. The aid group, based in Lebanon, works primarily with Syrian refugees in Lebanon, providing them with psychosocial support, food, clothing, and other needs. You can donate to their current campaign here. They also run a women’s workshop.
  • The Middle East Children’s Alliance is a California-based nonprofit that works locally and internationally, and is currently running a campaign to provide urgent aid to Syrian refugees seeking shelter in Lebanon. They score a 70.79/100 by Charity Navigator, due in part to high fundraising costs as well as their Bay Area location. Their financials are a bit outdated on Guidestar.
  • Relief and Reconciliation is a charity that runs a Peace Centre in northern Lebanon aiming to “help people of all faiths … to exit violence and to find a better future.” As they are not a US nonprofit, they are unranked by Guidestar and Charity Navigator, but their About page boasts some impressive credentials!
  • Syrianorphans.org is a small organization that received 501(c)(3) status in 2013, after I wrote this post. Though it does not yet have its financial reports up (GuideStar), the charity claims that it does not use any donations to support overhead costs, ensuring that donations are used entirely to support Syrians.
  • The Beirut-based Kayany Foundation is a registered NGO in Lebanon providing basic needs, healthcare, and schooling to Syrian refugees in the country.

 

21 replies on “New for 2015: How to help Syrian (and other) refugees”

Call your representatives and tell them you’d like to see the US take in more refugees. So far, we’ve taken just a pitiful few hundred, and we could certainly welcome many more. There are also a lot of US organizations in this list you can donate to.

[…] Donate – Here’s a link to SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society) Foundation. This organization has been working tirelessly since the beginnings of this struggle. I’ve talked to people very knowledgeable about aid organizations and this is one that they trust. As someone who is very passionate about working to end injustices in healthcare, the mission of this organization really resonates with me. The services they have provided and continue to provide include: field and referral hospitals, trauma facilities, dental clinics, psychosocial centers, healthcare professional salaries, medical trainings, hospital fuel programs, medical supplies and medications, dialysis program, intensive care unit and primary care services. The organization has also been working with the US government to encourage policy to help the victims of this war. Any little bit helps. Write Jillian York has compiled a list of reliable organizations that work specifically with the refugee populations here. […]

[…] この記事は当初、ジリアン・C・ヨークのブログで公開されたものである。ジリアンはグローバルボイス役員会でのボランティア代表者である。また、電子フロンティア財団でインターナショナル・フリーダム・オブ・エクスプレッション(言論の自由を守ることを目的とする501(c)(3)非営利団体)の推進者でもあり、ドイツのベルリンに拠点を置いている。 校正:Etsumi Itai 共有: twitter facebook reddit googleplusEmail 印刷版  原文Jillian C. York 翻訳Misaki Sato jQuery(document).ready(function($){ /** * Initialize attempt counter variable to */ var attemptCounter = 0; /** * Add blind toggle to the trigger to slide the box out on click */ $(".email-share-form-trigger").click(function(){ // Load form if it doesn't exist yet // Also handles toggling so that it slides AFTER content is loaded if ( 0 == $("#email-share-form").length ) { gvEsfAjaxLoadForm(); // Otherwise just toggle the box (only used if form was already loaded) } else { $("#email-share-wrapper").toggle('blind'); } }); /** * Use AJAX to load the email form * * Depends on gv_esf_ajax_load_form() php function being hooked correctly */ function gvEsfAjaxLoadForm() { // Prepare ajax data with form fields to autofill var ajaxData = { action: 'gv_email_share_form_load', post_id: '41668', form_url: '/2016/07/30/41668/', from_name: '', from_email: '' } // Show the loading icon $('.esf-loading-icon').show(); // Send ajax request $.ajax({ type: 'POST', url: 'https://jp.globalvoices.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', data: ajaxData, success: function(response) { // Insert response (presumed to be HTML of form) into wrapper $('#email-share-wrapper').append(response); // Add click event for AJAX sending to submit button $('#gv_esf_ajaxsubmit').click(function(){ gvEsfAjaxSend(); }); // Toggle slide the box $("#email-share-wrapper").toggle('blind'); // Get the current scroll distance from the top of the window // var windowtop = $(window).scrollTop(); // Fetch vertical position of container div // jquery ref http://api.jquery.com/offset/ // var offsettop = $('#email-share-form-contents').offset().top; // Use container because it results in better position, can be changed to anything var offsettop = $('#email-share-wrapper').offset().top; console.log(offsettop); // Scroll to the top of the container div window.scrollTo(0, offsettop); // Debug values // $('#email-share-form-contents').append("offset().top = "+offsettop+" window.scrolltop="+windowtop); // Hide the loading icon $('.esf-loading-icon').hide(); $('.animated-form-close-button').click(function(){ $("#email-share-wrapper").toggle('blind'); return false; }); } }); } /** * ESF – Send AJAX request to send email from form * * Prepares and sends form data to WordPress AJAX where it will * be handled and a reply with errors/sucess messages sent back. */ function gvEsfAjaxSend() { var ajaxData = { action: 'gv_email_share_form_send', gv_esf_post_id: $('#gv_esf_post_id').val(), gv_esf_to_3Rt8: $('#gv_esf_to_3Rt8').val(), gv_esf_from_R8h5i: $('#gv_esf_from_R8h5i').val(), gv_esf_from_Y4b8: $('#gv_esf_from_Y4b8').val(), gv_esf_from_0u5Rd: $('#gv_esf_from_0u5Rd').val(), email: $('#email').val(), email_address: $('#email_address').val(), gv_esf_email_type: $('#gv_esf_email_type').val(), gv_esf_message: $('#gv_esf_message').val(), gv_esf_counter: $('#gv_esf_counter').val() } // Show the loading icon $('#esf-sending-icon').show(); $.ajax({ type: 'POST', url: 'https://jp.globalvoices.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', data: ajaxData, success: gvEsfAjaxSendResponseHandler }); } /** * Handle JSON response returned by Form AJAX Request. * * Should be called in gvEsfAjaxSend() as success of ajax request. */ function gvEsfAjaxSendResponseHandler(jsonResponse) { var output = ''; // Make sure we recieved a response if (!jsonResponse) { output += ' […]

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