Secure donations av for Ukraine?

[Dana Enyo]

Is there an account to which donations can be given that we can be confident will go to help at least one of the many organizations trying to help the people inside, or escaping from, Ukraine?  The American Cancer Society goes to incredible lengths to make their Relay for Life donation system safe and secure; I realize this is a much more immediate need and there has been no time to set up something like that -- but it would be great to, for example, be able to set up a sales vendor where 100% of the L$ went to this cause.  Any suggestions?

[Rowan Amore]

Ukrainian-Russian Crisis : Charity Navigator

[Dana Enyo]

Thanks Rowan!  But is there an INWORLD way to get to any of those organizations?

[Rowan Amore]

6 minutes ago, Dana Enyo said:

Thanks Rowan!  But is there an INWORLD way to get to any of those organizations?

No idea.  Personally, I'd give directly to an organization in this instance and not anything inworld.  

[Dana Enyo]

I understand. But I've made a blue/gold dress (others have too) and would like to sell this inworld with all the L$ going directly to the organization.  I just have to know it's really going to get there.

[Dragon Mommy]

2 minutes ago, Dana Enyo said:

I understand. But I've made a blue/gold dress (others have too) and would like to sell this inworld with all the L$ going directly to the organization.  I just have to know it's really going to get there.

You will likely want to handle passing the funds yourself then to be sure they reach the right people. 

[Dana Enyo]

Was hoping to totally eliminate any chance for error on my part.  But I do have an idea; I have an alt I use as a model; she has ZERO L$ transactions so it could all go to her, and then I would know for sure that nothing gets lost.  But I'll keep watching this space to see if anyone knows of a direct donation alternative!

[Sid Nagy]

Normally you are not 100% certain who is behind an avatar in the end. (If it is not your own).
Better stick with direct donations to RL organizations who have proven themselves over the years, like UNICEF, the Red Cross, Save The Children etc.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Rowan Amore]

You also need to take into consideration the fees deducted by LL to cash out.  I certainly won't be spending money on anything designated to go to the Ukraine.  As @Sid Nagymentioned, we don't know who is behind the avatar and if it's all going where we think it's going.

[LittleMe Jewell]

I don't donate to anything inworld.  Even with the Relay For Life stuff, which I do know is fully legit, I still only buy it if it is something I would buy anyway.  I do all of my charitable donations via RL.

[Paul Hexem]

When you consider fees, taxes, and conversion rates, donating anything in world is a waste. Use the link provided if you want to support a charity.

Although I don't donate to charities at all anymore, it pays their "coordinators", not the actual victims. Best to give directly to people whenever possible.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Paul Hexem

[LittleMe Jewell]

9 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Although I don't donate to charities at all anymore, it pays their "coordinators", not the actual victims. Best to give directly to people whenever possible.

There are actually many charities that spend very, very little on administrative crap.  I use Charity Navigator a lot to determine who to give to -- though most of my donations are direct to the specific organization that I want it to go to.

ETA:  I went and checked my current 'charity list' and the only general organizations I donate to are one worldwide and two local foundations that provide a lot of different things to my local community.

Edited March 6, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell
spelling

[Paul Hexem]

2 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

There are actually many charities that spend very, very little on administrative crap.  I use Charity Navigator a lot to determine who to give -- though most of my donations are direct to the specific organization that I want it to go to.

Not me. I've had friends in places where they needed help, and they were offered tiny fractions of what they needed- to the point where it was literally less than I would have been donating. Giving them money directly wound up helping them way more.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Just now, Paul Hexem said:

Not me. I've had friends in places where they needed help, and they were offered tiny fractions of what they needed- to the point where it was literally less than I would have been donating. Giving them money directly wound up helping them way more.

There have been some disasters that haven't had direct donations available, so in those cases I've used Americares because they rate very high on most of the money going where it truly belongs.  Whereas the Red Cross spends more of their money on administration and other non-program stuff.

 

[Sid Nagy]

2 hours ago, Paul Hexem said:

Not me. I've had friends in places where they needed help, and they were offered tiny fractions of what they needed- to the point where it was literally less than I would have been donating. Giving them money directly wound up helping them way more.

On the other hand, people that work full time for one of those organizations, will have to be paid.
One just can't expect that there are no overhead costs.

And no... charity organizations don't get enough donations to do everything that they want to do. So it is logical that not everybody gets what they need from them.

If you have personal contact in the region, than direct donations are always better.
But not everybody in need has contacts to people from richer parts of the world either. So the charity organizations can be pretty helpful too.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[xViXeNx71]

Another way to directly support people in Ukraine is through Airbnb. 

Book a room/apartment in Ukraine, for instance in Kiev, at Airbnb and pay for it. Let the owner know that you won't be coming, that you are doing this to support them and that they can keep the money. There are even rooms for less than $10, in case you can't donate alot of money. Airbnb won't charge any service-costs for Ukraine to support this.

 

[Mollymews]

4 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

On the other hand, people that work full time for one of those organizations, will have to be paid.
One just can't expect that there are no overhead costs.

yes. In the case of organisations like the Red Cross they do have to put infrastructure and distribution systems in place on the ground. This requires people who have to be fed, housed, transported and supported on the ground.  To organise and administer all of this then need experienced professional people

[Paul Hexem]

5 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

On the other hand, people that work full time for one of those organizations, will have to be paid.

Which would be fine, except they get paid better than big tech CEOs.

[Sid Nagy]

Nice excuses to do nothing, right?
I would pay directly if I knew someone, but I don't.
I don't think it is fair that someone who works full time for a charity organization gets a decent pay.
And for good measure I exaggerate the salaries of the people who work there. Good for ones conscience not to pay a dime.

Yeah right.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Dana Enyo]

Thank you all; I'll figure out something.

[Dyna Mole]

For reference:

 

[Charlotte Bartlett]

On 3/6/2022 at 10:12 AM, Dana Enyo said:

Is there an account to which donations can be given that we can be confident will go to help at least one of the many organizations trying to help the people inside, or escaping from, Ukraine?  The American Cancer Society goes to incredible lengths to make their Relay for Life donation system safe and secure; I realize this is a much more immediate need and there has been no time to set up something like that -- but it would be great to, for example, be able to set up a sales vendor where 100% of the L$ went to this cause.  Any suggestions?

I really recommend NOT passing through the money you make on the dress to any third party avatar (unless your own alt). 
I do get your point though it would be lovely if Linden Lab did set up secure charity avatars they control where they can make the donation / cash it out directly and take care of the fees/tax balancing as a result and we could set any vendors to that official avatar to put in the sales to as distribution from the vendor.

Without that:

If you cash it out, make a direct donation to the charity in rl currency and keep the receipt as evidence.

Remember if you are US based (and most other countries) it will reflect on your taxes required to be paid as the cash out will show as income.  But if you are a business (US based other countries may vary) you can offset the charity donation in the appropriate schedule to net it out as a deduction to take off your gross income.   Just keep proper accounting and all receipts.

[Prokofy Neva]

I could point out, having worked in the Eurasia field for my whole adult life, the Lindens' statement on Ukraine was first rate, and their list of groups to give to was excellent -- I think they had very good advice from people who actually live/work in this region (probably from among their staff and contractors). They suggested OVD-Info in Russia to help those arrested for anti-war demonstrations, which is really the best choice these days as it is still functioning (perhaps not for long) and the Ukrainian Red Cross and HIAS. HIAS is perfectly fine but I wouldn't have chosen them as they don't do work in this region as they once did; I would have put Doctors without Borders, for example. 

But as for giving inworld, there is a built-in problem -- having to cash out Lindens and pay a fee, then pay another fee to PayPal, you are taking out a significant amount of money. It's not like the 30% taken by YouTube if you help some Russian YouTube opposing the war, but it's still like 15%. So it's not practical. And the amount, as Charlotte noted, has to be noted on your taxes, and the receipts shown for the income and the donation, which is a chore if it is only going to be $35 or whatever. RFL is doing fund-raising on such a large scale, it's not a significant loss for them. But there's no question that real help to people comes in RL, not through SL.

Even so, people are in SL and want to put their Lindens in while they are shopping or whatever. So why not raise money? There are merchants holding events now for Ukraine; I am collecting for People in Need with something I made -- a card of all the suggested places to donate is in my office. I think you should look at the list of well known and reputable merchants in the Ukraine event now and ask if you can either donate your dress or donate the proceeds from your dress to them.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Prokofy Neva

[kevin Jerrold]

On 3/6/2022 at 5:45 PM, Dana Enyo said:

Was hoping to totally eliminate any chance for error on my part.  But I do have an idea; I have an alt I use as a model; she has ZERO L$ transactions so it could all go to her, and then I would know for sure that nothing gets lost.  But I'll keep watching this space to see if anyone knows of a direct donation alternative!

Have a read of The Linden Labs Statement on Ukraine. Might find a charity that they are working with.

 

[kevin Jerrold]

2 minutes ago, kevin Jerrold said:

Have a read of The Linden Labs Statement on Ukraine. Might find a charity that they are working with.

 

https://search.secondlife.com/?query_term=ukraine&search_type=standard&collection_chosen=events&maturity=gma