No organization has been more visible in responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa than international aid organization Doctors Without Borders. Among its thousands of volunteers was Dr. Craig Spencer, the physician who was infected with the virus in Guinea and recovered at Bellevue. The group's American branch, Doctors Without Borders USA Inc., ranks No. 13 on Crain's list of the New York area's largest nonprofits, based on 2014 operating expenses.
Donations to fight Ebola started slowly, but picked up in July with increased media coverage, according to Doctors Without Borders Development Director Thomas Kurmann. "We received a lot of visibility in the media because we were on the front line in responding," he said. The organization has raised about $100 million to fight the deadly epidemic this year, $21 million of which has come from U.S. donors.
The organization set an operating budget of $150 million for 2014 and 2015 combined. Kurmann said that although daily donations through the organization's website have increased six or seven times over their level from last year, he is concerned that donors will contribute more in Ebola-restricted funds than the organization can handle. He is urging donors to give without earmarking. "We have limited capabilities to intervene in such a project," Kurmann said. "We have to be careful in terms of running the risk of getting overfunded."
Doctors Without Borders is trying to avoid the overfunding that flooded the Red Cross after Superstorm Sandy, according to Bob Ottenhoff, president and executive director of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, which advises nonprofits and donors on disaster response. The Red Cross collected about $100 million more than it was able to spend on Sandy relief, Ottenhoff said, resulting in a scandal documented by ProPublica and NPR. "Donors need to be more conscious that there's a life cycle of a disaster," Ottenhoff said. "It's not just relief, but there are often long-term disasters."
"Ebola fight boosts group's donations" originally appeared on the website of Crain's New York Business.
