The Givers

"Last week's devastating South Asian tsunami struck parts of the world poorly equipped to predict or prepare for the coming of such a disaster—but it struck at a time when the rest of the world was uniquely poised to help," writes David Wallace-Wells in the online magazine Slate. "Three years after the sometimes lackluster, sometimes bungled Internet fund-raising campaign that followed Sept. 11 (Internet donations were only about 5 percent of the total raised), the reflexive response to the tsunami, in the last days of December, will likely be remembered as a remarkable finale to a year of historic growth for Internet fund raising."

"By Thursday," he continues, "10 days after the disaster, American relief agencies had raised more than $245 million, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The American Red Cross alone has raised more than $106 million, $57 million through its Web site ($15 million of which was contributed by 180,000 Amazon customers). UNICEF has received $20 million from 150,000 online donations. Oxfam America received 80 percent of its $15 million online. The American branch of Doctors Without Borders has raised $16 million through Internet donations. The Chronicle features a list of 55 major corporations that have donated a total of $110 million in cash, medicine, and relief material. (Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer alone contributed $25 million worth of medicine.) The total figure donated by private sources is fast approaching the $350 million in public money President Bush pledged last week."