# Why some disasters generate more donations than others

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/11/16/why-some-disasters-generate-more-donations-others/
- Published: 2005-11-16T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

An article in The Washington Post by Jacqueline L. Salmon looks at why some disasters
generate greater philanthropic responses than others.
“What is it that triggers 
that “must-give” button in our heads?” asks Jacqueline L. Salmon in “Some Disasters
Compel Us to Give”. “And why do some disasters push that button when others don’t?”
she adds.

By talking with American and international relief agencies, she concludes that the
following conditions contribute to a greater public response.

Michael Gilbert’s Nonprofit Online News ably sums these up:

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“(1) “Natural” disasters beat manmade disasters.

(2) Sudden disasters beat slow-moving crises.

(3) TV counts.

(4) Drama counts.

(5) Timing counts.

(6) Ease of giving makes a big difference.

(7) Personal experience helps.

(8) Simple beats complex.”

Interestingly, Salmon adds that “disaster giving doesn’t supplant donations to other
causes”. She explains that “that’s because individual giving to disasters tends 
to be small – three-quarters of the people who donated to a Sept. 11 charity gave
$100 or less – so people can comfortably keep up their other giving.”

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