How does B1G1 act on global disasters?
This article explains when and how B1G1 may list temporary Disaster Relief projects.
B1G1’s focus is regular and sustainable business giving. We list carefully selected impact-based projects for businesses to give to. This means that disaster relief response is not B1G1’s core strength or focus. And we may not be able to respond directly to many of the emergency situations that do arise.
For example, all B1G1 projects are required to have at least 3 years of track record and financial breakdowns of project activities. This prevents us from listing projects that are new or are trying to raise a large amount of funds on a one-off basis for a specific goal. Moreover, the organizations we select for our ongoing projects are usually not specifically equipped for disaster relief responses.
Over the years though, the B1G1 Giving Board has worked to identify special cases when we can list a disaster relief project for a limited period when certain conditions are met. In general, the Board’s policy is to consider emergency funding when there is a disaster – whether natural or man-made – that affects more than 100,000 people or is a major national emergency in a particular country. When that occurs, we assess if the relief activity can be undertaken without appearing to involve B1G1 in political or religious matters, the Board will consider whether one of our pre-approved relief organizations or one of our existing Worthy Causes may be in a position to provide food, medicines or other emergency relief to those affected by the disaster.
In other words, the main considerations are the scale of the issue, the nature of the issue, and whether or not one of our pre-approved Disaster Relief Organizations*, or possibly an approved Worthy Cause, can respond to the specific situation with a dedicated fundraising appeal.
In some circumstances, the desire of the B1G1 Community to support the specific issue may also be considered. This is because we need to ensure that enough funds are raised from the appeal so that we can swiftly remit the funds to the designated relief efforts.
If all conditions are met, B1G1 will list the disaster relief program as a special temporary project and also apply a more frequent remittance cycle. Normally, remittances to B1G1 Worthy Causes happen monthly. Emergency relief funding can be remitted every two weeks instead.**
And if the condition of the disaster relief activity does not meet our criteria, we encourage our Members to support other organizations that are specifically equipped to act on those specific crises.
We seek our Members’ understanding when we are unable to act in certain situations as we try to ensure the effectiveness of our giving model for all B1G1 Members around the world.
*As of now, B1G1 Giving’s designated relief organizations are the International Relief Team and Direct Relief.
**These remittance cycles apply as long as the accumulated amount reaches US$500. The amounts below US$500 will be remitted in the following period for increased efficiency.