Craigslist
Connected giving
Americans who want to give more than cash to help Katrina victims are using the Internet to send diapers, baseball gloves and CDs directly to the disaster area.
Last Thursday, Karen Gurwitz drove all over Manhattan picking up boxes of baby clothes, formula, diapers and other goods from shower caps to baseball gloves. On Friday morning, two trucks — their services donated — filled with those offerings left for a hurricane shelter in Baton Rouge. Through word of mouth, mostly electronic, Gurwitz had collected donations from 150 people in under a week — the busy week after Labor Day, no less. “I made a financial contribution to the Red Cross, but it never feels like enough,” says Gurwitz, 36, founder of a meal delivery service called Mothers & Menus. “I wanted to give something more tangible than my credit card number.”
Gurwitz’s efforts highlight a new phenomenon in post-disaster charitable giving: highly specific in-kind donations, guided by the information available on the Internet and sent directly to local agencies or entities. Aid organizations discourage in-kind donations because they create logistical problems and are not always appropriate or needed. But with the Internet, someone who wants to donate, say, food or clothing instead of writing a check can find out who needs what and send it directly to them. And as sites like Craigslist show with their profusion of offers to help, the Internet may also be attracting new donors, or enabling existing donors to give in new and creative ways. Call it connected giving.
The increase of in-kind donations does not seen to have hurt monetary giving. Financial donations to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts are reportedly nearing the $600 million mark, outpacing the donations made within nine or ten days of the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the tsunami of last December. Experts attribute the unprecedented check writing to several overlapping factors: the disaster occurred at home, created so many suffering survivors, laid so clearly bare the differences between those who have something to donate and those who lost the next-to-nothing they had — and motivated many to pick up where the government, it seemed, hadn’t picked up at all.
But the same time, all over the country, people are demonstrating their immense desire to help in other ways: sometimes more creative, often more concrete. Some are wary of high-budget charities, uneasy about sending their money into a massive donation vortex; some feel that what they can afford, if anything, simply isn’t enough. (If Bangladesh can come up with $1 million, what good will my $100 do?)
Result: An enormous number of people are supplementing, or in some cases replacing, their check writing with donations of diapers, say, to ad hoc shelters in Mississippi motels too small to bleep on the FEMA radar. The Community Bookstore in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, N.Y., well-known in its neighborhood and beyond for transforming itself into a clearinghouse for donations to the Sept. 11 rescue efforts, is now collecting items for four relief locations in Louisiana and Texas. Sheila Jozami, 19, a college student who’s been volunteering at the Houston Astrodome, teamed up with a friend to collect CDs and boom boxes for displaced kids. (“I can’t imagine being a teenager and going through tough times without my music,” reads their Web site.) Sewing enthusiast Tom Farrell, 33, of Somerville, Mass., is trying to organize fellow seamsters to make duffel bags for displaced people to keep their belongings (if his plan proves workable, he’ll post the pattern online for anyone to follow).
“People want do to more,” confirms Henry “Hank” Goldstein, chair of the Giving USA Foundation. “They want to feel as if they have a direct involvement.”
For good reason, aid organizations do not welcome most in-kind donations. The Red Cross, for one, specifically discourages unsolicited in-kind donations, as do most other relief organizations and people experienced with disaster recovery. Why? Parcels require opening and sorting, a task for which there are rarely extra hands; the goods inside may be insufficient or inappropriate to the needs of a given location. In other words, giant boxes of bedroom slippers addressed “c/o Houston Astrodome” are not the best way to get your Good Samaritan on. “Mostly you get these containers of teddy bears that get in the way of food and water,” says Matt Easton, a senior associate at Human Rights First who has also worked on relief and development projects in Asia and Africa, including tsunami and hurricane recovery.
By and large, they say, money — flimsy and insubstantial as a check may feel to its writer — is the way to go. “Generally, the best thing for relief organizations is cash — giving them the finances to procure what’s needed,” says Gerald Martone, director of Humanitarian Affairs for the International Rescue Committee. He adds that in some cases, goods purchased near disaster areas — as opposed to shipped from afar — can also do their part to help boost damaged local economies.
Now, however, people are using the Internet — perhaps to an unprecedented degree — to exchange detailed, up-to-date information about precisely what supplies are needed and where, even how they should be packaged. (One person assembling donations, for example, passed along a Houston shelter’s request for clothing boxed and labeled by type and quantity — “7 days’ worth of 3-year-old boy clothes” — for easy distribution.) This type of donation does get the seal of approval. “If you’ve made contact with a hotel that tells you exactly what they need, that’s a great way to donate,” says Sheila Graham, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross.
Does this electronic end run around the major players represent a new trend toward direct charitable giving? Hard to say. Given the vast quantity of financial contributions still pouring in, it doesn’t appear that these well-informed in-kind donations are siphoning dollars away from relief efforts. Also, it’s difficult to find accurate bases of comparison. Sept. 11 — tragically, in its own way — did not leave such a vast, spread-out population of survivors in need; the remoteness of the tsunami left Americans with fewer options for direct giving. And one hopes that the scope and scale of need created by Katrina will remain unique. But experts say the Internet has clearly been a major factor not only in terms of bringing help to smaller, struggling groups, but also in motivating and mobilizing people to give of themselves in as many ways as possible. “The number of blogs and Craigslist-type postings on this topic is absolutely amazing,” says Jack Siegel, CEO of Charity Governance Consulting and author of the forthcoming “A Handbook for Non-Profit Boards, Executive Directors and Advisors: Avoiding Trouble While Doing Good.” “People who feel that donating money is not enough are able to have much more direct participation than ever in the process of giving.”
Gurwitz herself searched Craigslist to make contact with a group in need before rallying her donors; the most cyber-savvy volunteers are creating blogs and Web sites designed to gather donation specifics into one place, or even to match donors to needs. Amy Lynn Cook, 25, of Raleigh, N.C., a stay-at-home mom of two and freelance Web designer, initially created SurvivedKatrina.net as an information hub for survivors; she recruited volunteers on Craigslist to help her run the site. Now, one of the most active parts of the site is the forum for information about donating goods from tarpaulins to plus-size clothing to school supplies.
(Predictably enough, Katrina brought with her a storm surge of Internet spamming and scamming. Unless donation information has come directly from a trusted source — and a recent one, as shelters’ needs may change daily — it’s always best, where possible, to call and confirm.)
Brooklyn real estate agent Lee Solomon — who recalled stories of overgenerous donations of cold cuts for World Trade Center rescue workers that were left to rot on New York’s West Side Highway — started soliciting donated supplies only after making direct contact with several smaller relief providers (a church and a thrift shop in Alabama, for example) who, she said, “had not heard word one from FEMA or the Red Cross.” She posted information about what was needed on various local online boards, offering to gather and ship donations. Within four days, Solomon had enough donations in her office to fill seven large moving boxes. “This is the first totally ‘connected’ tragedy we have experienced in this country,” she observes, citing stories of stranded victims text-messaging for help whose relatives, in turn, posted their pleas on Nola.com. “The next logical step in this connected world: the aid that’s needed can be requested and taken care of directly.”
Award-winning journalist Lynn Harris is author of the comic novel "Death by Chick Lit" and co-creator of BreakupGirl.net. She also writes for the New York Times, Glamour, and many others. More Lynn Harris.
I fell for a Craigslist job scam
I wish I'd seen the red flags, but unemployment made me desperate enough to take a risk I now regret
(Credit: Salon/Cowpland via Shutterstock) A professor once told a class at my university that “all of society is playing itself out on Craigslist.” He was right, it’s all there: the things we value and no longer want, the spaces we live in, our mating calls. There’s the Good Samaritan who posts an ad seeking the owner of a diamond ring he found. There’s also the con artist taking advantage of a few million desperate job seekers. Unfortunately, that’s what I found.
I had recently graduated college when Craigslist began to consume my life. I was 28, old enough to remember the joy of sitting in my kitchen with a pen and a cup of coffee, circling help wanted ads in an old-fashioned newspaper. But I don’t need to tell you that Craigslist is way better than print classifieds ever were. It’s free, it’s instant, it’s hyper-local. Still, Craigslist does require a certain amount of street smarts; it can be a landmine of check fraud Trojan horses, fake website switcheroos and other gray-area opportunities. This isn’t news, of course. So while you wouldn’t want your grandmother using Craigslist, for fear she’d wire her identity to a Nigerian prince, those of us who’ve grown up with the seediness of the Web realize it’s no big deal. We know what to avoid on the Internet, the same way we know to avoid a dark alley on an unfamiliar street. Well, I thought I knew, anyway.
Continue Reading CloseChristopher Spata is a freelance journalist in Tampa, FL and a recent graduate of the University of South Florida. He has written about music and pop culture for Creative Loafing and tweets at @ChrisSpata. More Christopher Spata.
An open letter to the Craigslist cat lady
A woman is offering her apartment in Washington's prestigious Dupont Circle for super cheap. There's only one catch
Feeding time for all my friends. It’s hard to find a good deal on a city apartment, as anyone who has ever spent hours trolling on Craigslist will tell you. But sometimes an advertisement that’s too good to be true is exactly that. Take this Craigslist post for a D.C. sublet in the expensive Dupont Circle neighborhood.
Since I’m always looking for a great deal, I decided to email the poster:
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
Man turns to Craigslist for help explaining “Lost,” possible date
Months after ABC's mysterious island show ended its six season run, one man still demands answers
"Lost" in translation As someone who didn’t watch “Lost” out of spite for six years, I can totally relate to being confused by that show. Especially because I’d only hear about it through hours of inane episode dissections which otherwise considerate friends would spontaneously burst into, regardless of whether parties present even cared what was in that hatch/what those numbers meant/if Jacob was real/if that was Penny’s boat/where the island was/when the island was/what a “flash-sideways” was/why Kate didn’t just choose the clearly superior Sawyer/etc./etc.
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
Married GOP congressman resigns hours after caught trolling Craigslist for a date
Updated: New York's Chris Lee has now resigned after his shirtless solicitation was revealed
[Update: That was absurdly fast. Chris Lee has already resigned. Before we even had a chance to make fun of him for this quote. Meanwhile, David Vitter is still in the Senate! I guess it's picture.]
Chris Lee is a Republican Congressman representing upstate New York. He 46 years old and married with one son. Except when he’s responding to Craigslist personal ads. Then, he’s 39 and divorced. And a lobbyist.
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
The Israel lobby gone wild
AIPAC staffers looking at porn and cruising for sex on Craigslist, according to allegations in court filings
The latest shot in a long-running legal battle between AIPAC and Steven Rosen, a former top official at the pro-Israel group, reveals that AIPAC staffers regularly looked at Internet porn in the office, and that the married Rosen allegedly cruised for gay sex on Craigslist, according to new court filings.
The Forward has the full back story here, but the basics are these: Former AIPAC official Steven Rosen was charged with espionage in 2005 for allegedly receiving and distributing classified information on U.S. policy toward Iran and other matters (the charges were later dropped). Soon after the charges were brought, AIPAC fired Rosen, with a spokesman saying that Rosen “did not comport with standards that AIPAC expects of all its employees.” In response, Rosen sued AIPAC for defamation.
Continue Reading CloseJustin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.
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