People keep their dignity.
People receiving support have expertise, rights and choices. Let community priorities guide the help; ask permission before using someone’s story or image.
02 / GIVE RESPONSIBLY
GOOD INTENTIONS.
BETTER QUESTIONS.
Charity can meet urgent needs and support people rebuilding their lives. Start with what people need, respect their choices, and stay interested in what happens next. Give within your means; a manageable contribution is enough to begin.
Understand the need
Listen to people affected and organizations working alongside them. Check the location and date of reports. Food, medical care, shelter and long-term recovery may each need a different response.
Ask: what is needed now, and who says so?
Check the organization’s work
Look for recent activity in the place you want to support, local partners, financial reports and an explanation of delivery barriers. A familiar name or moving story is a starting point for research.
Ask: what can this organization actually do here?
Know what your gift supports
Read whether the appeal restricts gifts to a project or supports the wider mission. Check fees, recurring payment terms and what happens if a target is reached or access changes. Flexible funding can let an organization respond as needs change.
When an appeal makes a specific promise, look for the terms behind it. For example, “$100 feeds a family for a week” might be an estimated cost within a pooled programme. “$1,000 supports a girl’s education” should explain the period and support covered. These are illustrative examples, not offers from our directory.
Ask: what is being promised, and where will progress be reported?
Choose a commitment you can sustain
Decide what money or time you can comfortably offer. Give through an official channel and keep the confirmation. Volunteering or sharing useful information can be your starting point too.
Ask: what can I reliably contribute?
Return to the evidence
Set a time to read the next project update or annual report. Look for what reached people, what services continued, what fell short and why. Most pooled donations cannot be traced individually to one recipient.
Compare the update with the appeal’s promise: the place, reporting period, work completed and remaining gaps. A food programme can report deliveries; an education programme can explain attendance, support and continuity. Collective reporting can provide accountability while protecting people’s identities.
Read selected organization updates. These are organization-reported accounts with dates and limitations, not independent proof of every claim.
Ask: what changed, and what remains unmet?
Adapt your support
Continue, adjust or redirect your support as circumstances change. Ask focused questions through published channels and use existing reports. Allow frontline teams time to do their work.
If reporting is missing or the work differs from the appeal, ask for an explanation and the next update date. Honest reporting includes delays, barriers and failures. People receiving help do not owe donors publicity, gratitude or access to their private lives.
Ask: what is the most useful next step?
Promises need follow-through.
A pledge, a shipment and help received are different things. Look for evidence of delivery and remaining needs. Expect organizations to explain their work and setbacks. Your contribution is a means to betterment; stay interested in what happens after giving.
Give quietly. Follow through.
Your name doesn’t need to be seen. The work does. We encourage giving without public recognition: no donor leaderboards, donation badges or pressure to announce a gift. Share useful information and ways to help when you choose.
Ask about anonymous giving and whether your name, amount or story will be published. Being anonymous to the public may still mean the charity or payment provider knows your identity. Check the organization’s options before donating; Aid Worth Giving cannot control its checkout or privacy practices.
The Islamic teaching in Sahih al-Bukhari 1423 (opens in a new tab) praises giving so secretly that the left hand does not know what the right has given. Quiet giving and transparent organizations can go together.
How we will assess humanitarian need
Our research standard brings together affected communities and local organizations, regional and Asian perspectives, Western sources, and the responses of authorities whose policies affect aid. We assess access to evidence and methods; a publisher’s location or reputation alone does not settle a claim.
We distinguish requests, commitments, delivery and outcomes; preserve dates and uncertainties; and trace repeated reports to their original source. Broad country indexes provide context. They do not establish a moral hierarchy or a donation-priority order.
The directory separates reported work, receiving entities and source limitations. The globe is a dated crisis snapshot; it does not establish a moral hierarchy or an assessment of every current emergency.