@the_great_she_elephant wrote:
Chameleon wrote: Donate to Blazeaid......Managed by volunteers, staffed by volunteers, practical rural people who know how to get stuff on the ground and done before the city bureaucrats in their shiny charity offices have even left for work in their shiny cars paid for with your donations.
https://farmers.org.au/news/blazeaid-restores-hope-to-farmers/
BlazeAid currently has 14 base camps set up in bushfire-affected areas across Australia and are looking to have 40-50 base camps set up over the next few months.
The camps will cost $5,000 a week to run with budget constraints a possible concern for the future.
So does rthat $5,000 count as adminisration costs and is it paid out of the volunteers own pockets or from donations?
While I,m no expert, I can answer some of your questions about the organisation as it receives regular, rural media coverage and I have volunteered some of my time to the organisation for the current fire relief efforts.
The camps are set up in fire affected areas and house large numbers of volunteers in temporary camp sites. Volunteers are welcome to use the camp facilities for their own tents or caravans free of charge, are unpaid and pay all of their own personal and travel costs.
If fifty people are staying in a camp site it works out to $100 per volunteer per week. This covers public liability and volunteer workers insurance, power for camp sites, breakfasts, lunch provisions and evening meals, power for cooking, communications, fuel to transport and set up equipment used in the working bees etc. Administration of the camps and working bees is all done by unpaid volunteers and the catering etc. is also done free of charge by local service clubs such as sporting groups, Lions, Apex etc. Volunteers are expected to work a minimum of eight hours per day and many stay for a number of weeks at a time.
My understanding is that the main assets Blazeaid own are specially fitted out trailers full of tools and equipment used in fire and natural disaster recovery and reconstruction. These trailers and tools have been made available through corporate donations as well as from privately donated funds. The organisation is that efficient at returning donated funds to the cause, rather than spending them on themselves that even the trailers are housed in free, secure, shed space donated by corporate sponsors. The trailers are spread through multiple states, with South Australia's trailers housed in one of the large grain handlers facilities ( free of charge )
While the big corporate charities are spending your donations on offices and staff travel, lunch and accommodation allowances, Blazeaid is using donated funds to purchase materials for rebuilding. These particular materials are targeted at people who may not have insurance to cover all costs.
I think even the harshest critics would have to agree that is pretty efficient use of donated funds and leaves the larger city based, brand name charities in their dust. Its certainly a respected and worthwhile organisation that will give a huge return on donated funds compared to the corporate charities which appear to be using a lot of the donated funds just to grease their own corporate wheels, rather than helping those directly affected by the fires..
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