Fundraising for Katrina victims - an option
 

Hi Folks
Some members of a photography hobby website (where I am active) have decided to donate all profits from prints sold in the next couple of weeks to supporting victims of Katrina.
The owners of the site have kindly stepped in and made it a) official, so that all sales by donating members are automatically included in the fundraiser and b) included their percentage of the profits also.
If you are interested you can find the prints here:
http://kavey.dpcprints.com/donate_search.php
There are well over 5700 prints to choose from, all at different prices (prices are set by the photographer not the site) and yo can search on any topic, such as London, Flowers etc. My prints include photos of London, Venice and Africa.
Of course, direct donations to aid charities are always a good idea. This is meant to be an additional fundraiser, not an alternative.
Kind Regards
Kavey

I recently read a figure of how many millions of dollars Americans spend each week on lottery tickets. Wouldn't it be great if for one week, there were no lotteries at all, and everybody agreed to put that same amount of money toward the Katrina recovery?

Sorry, just dreaming.

Lotteries are a tax on desperation; the more desperate people's lives are, the higher is their expenditure on lottery tickets.

Hopeful people know that the return on investment is much better in other money-in/money-out system offered by society (savings accounts, securities, buying a piece of property, or investing in an education, even risk reduction, in the form of insurance).

Regrettably, lottery sales will likely rise in LA and MS in the ensuing months.

Grim best wishes,

Rex

Patrick, I think there are categories of spending for most people:

Spending on actual needs such as food, heating, home etc.

Spending on things one kind of needs but ends up choosing for pleasure too - clothes, transport etc.

Spending on lifestyle - holidays, art, jewellery and perhaps lottery tickets fit in here for those who don't have the means to spend much on this category

Charitable spending

I don't know that people would think to curtail their lifestyle/ lottery spending in order to increase their charitable spending.

Anyway, thought I'd post the link here as there are lots of wonderful location prints that might remind people of favourite holidays etc.

Kavey,

I think your post has an edge of commercialism that is ill-timed. Given the utter devastation in the six Gulf states, I would hope that people might at least partially curtail their "lifestyle/lottery spending", and give directly to charities that can best aid the victims.

By the way, The American Red Cross just reported that this is the worst national catastrophe they've dealt with in their 125-year-old history.

Weadles, I'm sorry you feel that way but there is no profit motive behind my posting. ALL profits, not just a part of them, from the sales of the prints, are going to charity.

The only part that doesn't is the cost of the print itself, that relates to the charge made to DPC Prints by their printing supplier and also postage, which goes to the mail companies.

And I didn't suggest that I felt people SHOULD continue to spend on lifestyle/ lottery - I explained that I thought it was the likely scenario. Appreciating what is likely to happen is NOT the same thing as thinking it's the right thing.

As I said, the idea behind selling the prints was to give people another avenue to support the victims. People may already have donated directly to American Red Cross or one of a number of other charities but now be thinking about buying something for their home and appreciate the chance to donate further.

If people don't feel it's appropriate, they can simply choose not to buy.

We all do what we feel we can to help. This is just one small and additional gesture amongst thousands.

Is money really the problem here?

America is not a poor country, surely it's more people that they need to help rather than just money?

MKingdom,
Given that I'm not really in a position to fly on over there and it's highly doubtful that any skills I have could be of much use, I'll continue to do what I can to raise funds.
There are a lot of people who have lost everything they had. Whilst I'm sure that government relief and aid charities will look after them in a physical sense for the time being, at some point it's going to be time for them to move forward. Charities may be able to offer ongoing support at a time when government has done all it's going to do.
That said, I have no idea on what the American government is planning, long term.
I figure sending some additional funds to charities who know how best to use it to support victims is a step in the right direction.

Kavey, I believe your intentions are good and the gesture is appreciated.

m_k, I really don't understand your point. Are you suggesting that money should not be donated because America is not a poor country?

Dear Kavey,

This Gulf Coast resident thanks you for your kind gesture. I live in Pensacola, so we were spared this time, for which we are extremely grateful, but I lived through Ivan last year, and our community was devastated. We are really just now getting back to normal. I know first hand what everybody in MS, AL and LA are going through. Every little bit helps, and really the gesture means even more.

Thank you for your kindness.

Johanna

Oh no, I'm all for sending money to charities to help the victims, but really it should be the place of the insurance companies, and the American government to compensate the victims for their losses.

My point is that America has plenty of money itself (the governement) so should foot the bill for all of this, and not expect money from other countries. I agree that it should ask for and be given help in terms of manpower, but everything else should be pair for by themselves.

Of course all this is easier said than done, and in reality anything to help the victims is best.

MKingdom--you, as is apparent so often, live in an alternate universe. Therefore your comments regarding the crisis in my country are as ridiculous as your attempts to portray yourself as a fashionista and should be taken just as seriously.

Kavey, your suggestion is a great one. As a travel Web site, this option could be very appealing to those who visit here. THANKS!

P_M, Johanna, Mel, thank you.
I was on the verge of asking Fodors editors to remove the post but perhaps it is OK after all.
Like it or not, it's not realistic to expectn people to stop spending on themselves and give ALL their disposable income to charity. It just ain't gonna happen.
So if some of us at the photography site can find a way for people to buy something nice for themselves AND donate at the same time, I figured it was a good thing.
Kavey

Mkingdom - You really are naive. Do you really believe the jibberish you just wrote?????
Insuraance co's and the governemnt should be the sole source of financial assistance to these hundreds of thousand of people? Do you realize probably a huge percentage of the very poor have no insurance.
The people of this country have rallied in so many ways to help these people. There will never be enough money to put these peoples lives back to gether the way they were,...but it helps tremendously when peoplwe like KAvey and the scores of other people in this country who have put together clothes drives, fund raisers, etc.... to help the people affected by the hurricane. God help you and yours if something happens to you - I hope your governemrnt and YOur insurance co. will be there for you 100%

I donated to American RED CROSS why because I know that money I donated goes to right place NOT LIKE COMMERCIAL PLACES.

Please DO NOT MAKE money on KATRINA VICTIMS!!!

Sinan Akdeniz

How about fund raising dinners and charity balls? The people "donating" get something back and the charity gets funds too.

Thank you, Kavey, for the notice of the photographic website's generous offers. I'm glad you posted it.

Sinan
None of the photographers donating their prints NOR the site on which we are selling them are making a single CENT on their sales.
All the profit is going straight to Katrina victims.
Now, as I have repeatedly said above, this is NOT intended as an alternative to direct donations to aid charities.
It is intended as an additional revenue stream for the charities - the idea being to get people to give even more than they would to charity by giving at the same time as spending on themselves.
Please do not cheapen the intentions of the 300 photographers taking part by implying that we are making money from this.
That is extremely hurtful and rude.

A great idea and a very useful way to help, I'm sure the Red Cross will appreciate your efforts ond those of the other photographer's that have donated their works to raise funds for Katrina victims.

Thank you, Kavey.

I am sure you are frustrated to see your good intentions damned. You stated quite clearly the conditions of the program. I hope it raises a ton of money for those who need it.

Great idea Kavey.

(Some people will always over react and get the wrong end of the stick, even when it's a gesture of help and friendship.)