Some Thoughts on Giving

United Methodist Committee on Relief

We are all challenged to think through the stewardship of our responses to pleas for assistance. As Christians, we want to be faithful to the call of Jesus to be of service to the least of these, our brothers and sisters. However, we also want to be responsible world neighbors. Sometimes, without even realizing it, our giving can bring harm when all we meant was for the good.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief, the humanitarian relief and development agency of the United Methodist Church, has been responding to the needs of the suffering around the world for over 60 years. In that time we have provided assistance to refugees, developed sustainable agriculture and contributed emergency food, shelter and medicine in natural and human-made disasters. We have learned a lot in those 60 years, and we have adapted our policies and practices as experience has taught us and as the world of humanitarian relief has changed. Today we are much more ecumenical and committed to working in cooperation with the world-wide church and with local grass-roots organizations. We share information with each other, strategize together to avoid duplication of effort and expenditure, and share in the "glory" as well as the cost of relief efforts. Our intention now, as always, is to provide the highest quality aid with the most beneficial effects and with the least unintended negative consequences.

To that end, we have agreed with our international partners to adhere to minimum standards in providing humanitarian assistance. The Sphere Project (www.sphereproject.org) was developed after the particularly horrendous humanitarian disaster in Rwanda and the realization that the multiple response agencies needed to hold themselves and each other accountable for their practices. Those of us who support the Sphere Project share a common goal: to alleviate human suffering brought about by calamity and conflict through protecting life with dignity in ways that support durable recovery wherever possible.

We subscribe to the humanitarian code of conduct and the principles of the Sphere Project which requires us to practice a discipline that may look at times as if it were non-responsive to human need. That is never our intention and the UMCOR staff feels deeply the daily pain of those we struggle to assist. We are committed, however, to bear that personal pain and discomfort in order to work through the development of a plan of response that is sustainable, responsible, cooperative and sensitive to the beneficiaries, our partners and our donors.

We have learned, for example, that our donors' best intentions to give material resources need to be channeled in helpful ways. Our commitment is to attempt to build disaster response on local capacities, and to honor the people we serve by strengthening their capacities, purchasing local materials and trading with local companies. Offers of American-purchased goods (used or new), shipped on American carriers, provide more economic benefit to the United States than to the region experiencing the disaster. Unless there is strict quality control, the donated goods can have a high percentage of uselessness and require the recipients to have the disappointment of receiving damaged goods as well as the problem of disposing of them. In addition, the distribution of material goods requires very careful consideration and planning to avoid flooding a market and destroying small vendor/businesses. There is rarely a completely "neutral" distributor or distribution of goods and a particular faction (often the most heavily armed) serves its own purposes and people with the goods. UMCOR wants to be very careful that our shipping of material resources, when it is done, takes all these factors into account. We have learned that in most cases, the needed items are available in the region and we can support the local production and shipping economies as we work with local grass roots organizations that know the community as our distributors. In order to do this, we rely upon cash donations and strictly specified, quality-controlled material resources (kits). Our material resources program, through the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot, keeps an up-dated list of the most needed and most useful material gifts for destinations around the world.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief offers the following questions to ask of the manager of your donations, whether material or cash, in order to assess the value of your gifts:

Has the local community (beneficiary) requested this item? If so, how and who?
If it is a material donation, is that item available in the region? How does the cost of shipping from the US compare to regional purchase?
Does the manager of your material donation practice good quality control? Does every item go through an inspection process so that only good quality is sent and useless items destroyed by the manager?
How is the distribution managed? Who stands to benefit from being the distributor? What knowledge does the gift manager have of the community factions and tensions that might be affected by a large input of material goods?
What security practices are in place to prevent theft from bandits or threat to local distributors?
And, finally, the most difficult question is one to ask yourself: Is this gift you are contemplating giving, for the long term benefit of the recipient community? Too often our decisions about giving are driven by a need to have a public relations event for an organization or to satisfy our own needs to "do something" in a difficult time.

Our commitment to our donors is to ask these very questions of ourselves as we develop our disaster responses in the United States and around the world. We always welcome your asking these questions of us and will endeavor to provide the information you require to satisfy yourself that you are being a good disciple as well as a good world citizen. Please contact us as indicated below with your comments and questions.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the not-for-profit international humanitarian aid organization of The United Methodist Church, active in many parts of the world bringing hope, providing relief from hunger and disasters, and teaching peace. Contributions to UMCOR may be sent through a local United Methodist church, Annual Conference or by mailing a check to: UMCOR, Room #330, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115. Be sure to include the Advance # and/or the name of the emergency on the check memo line. For credit card donations, call 1-800-554-8583.

One Great Hour of Sharing: UMCOR's everyday expenses are funded primarily by gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS). Please give to OGHS during the annual offering in Lent or any other time of year. If you are not using the special offering envelop, be sure to mark on your check that your donation is for the OGHS.

Remember UMCOR in Your Will: You can also remember UMCOR in your will, name UMCOR as a beneficiary of your life insurance, or give a gift of appreciated stock. For more information on legacy gifts or life-income plans, please call UMCOR at 1-800-554-8583 and ask to speak with an Estate Planning Associate.

Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): Are you a federal employee? Do you know someone who is? Did you know that you can give to UMCOR through payroll deduction via the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC)? To support UMCOR through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), check #352 under International Service Agencies (ISA) on your CFC pledge form. The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is a workplace giving program for federal employees. ISA is a non-governmental organization, that represents 53 relief and development organizations. UMCOR became a member of the International Service Agencies federation in 1994.