Comparisons between the American fund raising results for Haitian earthquake relief and the efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asian tsunami are inevitable. Private giving by Americans, individuals, foundations and corporations has always been generous. Our economy is significantly weaker than it was in 2004-2005 and that may be the biggest factor affecting giving to date.

Some of the historical numbers include money raised by churches. Those collections have happened but have not been reported publicly as far as can be determined for the Haiti relief effort.

Here are the current results as recorded on this site. The column titles are links to the articles on that topic.

This table will be updated as the donations continue for Haitian relief. Obviously there is quite a ways to go to catch up to the levels from Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami.

Indonesia has opened a $5.6 million museum to commemorate the 230,000 people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The four-level building in hardest-hit Aceh province exhibits photographs of victims, stories of survivors and an electronic simulation of the massive undersea earthquake that triggered the 30-foot-high waves.

It also describes the tremendous outpouring of support from governments, companies and individuals in the aftermath of the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster, which caused death and destruction in a dozen nations.

More than $13 billion was pledged to house and feed survivors and to rebuild devastated coasts.

Fox News

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link. It’s obsolete, so go here:

LINK

That’s the entire category.

BBC

Philanthropy is so well established it has spawned its own academic discipline.

New York University has a department of philanthropy. There is also the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

I have even attended a philanthropy workshop in the bowels of Congress, where rich Americans learned how to give their money away and how to make sure it was spent on the right causes.

Whether it is the quest for a legacy, the desire to change the world, the determination not to spoil one’s children or simply the tax code, Americans – wealthy and not so wealthy – are giving their dollars away by the lorry load.

And the rest of the world has a long way to catch up.

The author takes a shot at the United States government by suggesting that private Americans gave more for tsunami relief than our government did. He’s “Yeah, but…” correct. No other government could send a carrier battle group and a whole bunch of Marines to do what they did in those first days. I suggest that the costs of being ready to be able to do that count in part if you do the sums.

He mentions James Smithson, who gave the world the Smithsonian Instutution, Andrew Carnegie who could be aptly called the father of the modern free public library, and modern givers like Bill Gates and Ted Turner. He correctly points out that Americans, private citizens, businesses and groups, give more than anyone else in the world.

People will quibble with the per capita numbers. Those always leave out giving to churches and church related issues. Americans are among the few left in the world who even attend churches much less give to them. And church giving, Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Catholic Charities, counts for more than just dollars. Those groups put people on the ground where they are needed, not just holding press conferences in London or Bern. That’s the other hand of American giving, the time we give. The Scouts, any sort of organized sports, community theater, firefighting and EMS, all could not exist without volunteers and Americans do just that.

Here’s a bloke who sees a part of America many don’t.

Habitat for Humanity

In the year since the Indian Ocean tsunami, Habitat for Humanity has assisted an estimated 6,000 households in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand to gain permanent housing. Over the next 24 months, Habitat for Humanity plans to provide direct housing assistance to as many as 20,000 families, and to assist 10,000 to 15,000 more households with training and disaster mitigation services.

Program targets*
Jan. 1, 2005–Dec. 31, 2007
Total families to be served — 35,000
Families to receive direct housing assistance — 20,000
Additional families to be served through training and disaster mitigation — 10,000–15,000

*At the one-year mark, countries have revised their individual goals; if the new goals are met, 21,000 families will receive housing and more than 39,000 households will be served.

The first year
Funds raised — US$54 million
Funds transferred to implementing countries — US$12 million**

Families receiving direct housing assistance — 6,000

New houses — 2,800
Repaired and renovated houses — 1,200
Total completed*** — 4,000

Housing units in progress — 2,000

**Estimated total to Dec. 31, 2005; includes $8.56 million actual through Nov. 17.
***House counts through Nov. 30 plus projections to year’s end.