The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), has created a "Refugee Tsunami Victims Fund" to assist Burmese in southern Thailand who are victims of the December 26 tsunami but who are not receiving adequate disaster relief assistance.

The United Nations Foundation has made a commitment of $5 million to United Nations tsunami initiatives that will strengthen the UN's rapid response capabilities in the three hardest hit countries, build critical communications and logistics capacities, and support the UN's aid coordination role? Working closely with its direct UN counterpart, the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships, the UN Foundation is also partnering with a number of corporations, foundations, and donors around the world to support these immediate and second state rehabilitation efforts of the United Nations. In addition, the UN Foundation has established the Tsunami Relief Fund to raise funds in support of the UN's emergency relief, reconstruction, and rehabilitation efforts.

The Peninsula Community Foundation is offering two ways to donate funds to support the tsunami relief effort: give directly to PCF-recommended relief organizations, or give through PCF's South Asia Disaster Relief Fund. The foundation's South Asia Disaster Relief Web page includes a listing of recommended organizations, links to each organization's online donation center, and a link to PCF's South Asia Disaster Relief Fund donation center. PCF has a 40-year history of providing critical resources to assist those in need in the foundation's local communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and around the world.

The Center for Corporate Citizenship (CCC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has set up an information resource center to support the disaster response, recovery, and reconstruction efforts in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Based on the information the CCC has already collected, the U.S. business community taken as a whole ranks among the largest sources of global tsunami aid. The CCC is seeking information from companies that have made a significant donation to tsunami relief efforts so that an accurate assessment of corporate relief efforts can be made. Visit the CCC Web site for further information.

AlertNet, a humanitarian news network, has compiled a list of NGOs responding to the devastation caused by the tsunami. The AlertNet Web site also offers news and updates from NGOs involved in the relief efforts, as well as NGO contact details and other information. Designed to keep relief professionals and the wider public up-to-date on humanitarian crises around the globe, AlertNet attracts upwards of three million users a year, has a network of more than three hundred contributing humanitarian organizations, and provides a weekly email digest. The service was started in 1997 by the Reuters Foundation, an educational and humanitarian trust, to place the Reuters news organization's skills at the service of the humanitarian community.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is encouraging the general public to contribute to tsunami relief efforts, but urges donors to use caution when giving to avoid potential scams. According to the AFP, donors should know two things before they give to any organization: Is the organization they’re supporting legitimate; and, Will the funds they’re giving be used in an appropriate way, consistent with their intent? Further Information on charitable giving and evaluating a charity can be found on the AFP Web site under National Philanthropy Day – About Giving.

AlertNet, a humanitarian news network, has compiled a list of NGOs responding to the devastation caused by the tsunami. The AlertNet Web site also offers news and updates from NGOs involved in the relief efforts, as well as NGO contact details and other information. Designed to keep relief professionals and the wider public up-to-date on humanitarian crises around the globe, AlertNet attracts upwards of three million users a year, has a network of more than three hundred contributing humanitarian organizations, and provides a weekly email digest . The service was started in 1997 by the Reuters Foundation, an educational and humanitarian trust, to place the Reuters news organization's skills at the service of the humanitarian community.

The Center for Corporate Citizenship (CCC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has set up an information resource center to support the disaster response, recovery, and reconstruction efforts in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Based on the information the CCC has already collected, the U.S. business community taken as a whole ranks among the largest sources of global tsunami aid. The CCC is seeking information from companies that have made a significant donation to tsunami relief efforts so that an accurate assessment of corporate relief efforts can be made. Visit the CCC Web site for further information.

As part of its effort to support the tsunami relief and reconstruction effort, the Development Gateway Foundation has launched an open source software tool that organizations can use to coordinate international relief and development efforts. Called the Local Projects Database (LPD), this tool can be downloaded from the Web at http://lpd.sourceforge.net/. An independent not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., the Development Gateway Foundation seeks to improve people's lives in developing countries by building partnerships and information systems that provide access to knowledge for development.

The Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Freeman Foundation have created an emergency grants program to help students from Southeast Asia whose ability to pursue their studies in the U.S. has been seriously affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Freeman-EAS: Freeman Emergency Assistance for Students from Southeast Asia will provide grants of up to $5,000 to undergraduates from Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities, who are facing serious financial difficulties due to the recent tragedy. Accredited U.S. campuses will be invited to nominate up to four students at their institutions for whom help is immediately needed for the spring semester (students cannot apply directly). IIE is currently seeking support to extend such assistance to students from India and Sri Lanka.

With water supply systems contaminated and in many cases destroyed by the tsunami, millions of people lack safe water and are at risk of potentially deadly water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhea. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF Tsunami Water and Sanitation Fund , a joint project of the William J. Clinton Foundation and UNICEF, will help to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases in tsunami-ravaged areas by bringing safe drinking water and sanitation systems to children and families. Once immediate life-threatening humanitarian needs are met, the Fund will help the affected governments with longer-term management of water supply and sanitation systems, especially in schools and health centers.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded a grant of $1.5 million to CARE International for disaster relief and reconstruction related to the earthquake and tsunamis in South Asia and for work in regions of Africa where disasters caused by humans continue to take an enormous toll. CARE will have the flexibility to use the MacArthur funds as it feels best in addressing the immediate needs in South Asia or the continuing and unmet needs in regions of Africa where displacement and loss of life are comparable to those caused by last week's natural disaster.

The Peninsula Community Foundation is offering two ways to donate funds to support the tsunami relief effort: give directly to PCF- recommended relief organizations, or give through PCF's South Asia Disaster Relief Fund. The foundation's South Asia Disaster Relief Web page includes a listing of recommended organizations, links to each organization's online donation center, and a link to PCF's South Asia Disaster Relief Fund donation center. PCF has a 40-year history of providing critical resources to assist those in need in the foundation's local communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and around the world.

As teachers and students return to their classrooms from the holiday break, they have begun organizing to help meet the needs of this unprecedented emergency situation. The National Service Learning Partnership is helping to assist in this effort by providing information on Tsunami Relief Service-Learning Projects. Listed projects currently include UNICEF Youth Action Tsunami Relief and the Do Something Kids Tsunami Relief Fund, both of which provide resources to help young people understand the disaster and contribute to the relief effort. The Partnership will continue to update available service-learning resources for tsunami relief projects in the coming weeks.

The American India Foundation (AIF) has launched a Tsunami Relief Fund with the goal of raising at least $2 million in the next 90 days. AIF will match dollar for dollar the first $1 million in contributions with 100 percent going to provide assistance to those in India recovering from the tsunami. Originally established to help raise funds for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake of January 2001, AIF works to accelerate social and economic change in India by connecting communities and resources across the United States and India.

The Tides Foundation is accepting contributions toward the tsunami relief effort though the Tides Rapid Response Fund. The Rapid Response Fund, which has channeled emergency relief in response to crisis situations around the globe for nearly ten years, pools donors' resources to increase the impact of their giving. Tides staff works to ensure the money is received by effective grassroots and advocacy organizations working for short-term relief as well as for long-term economic and structural change.

UNICEF, the lead UN organization bringing emergency relief to victims of the tsunamis, is assisting survivors by providing shelter, clean water, nutritional supplements, and medical supplies, and is working closely with the governments of affected countries to accurately assess the situation and formulate long-range plans for recovery. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is the American fundraising arm for UNICEF.

Give2Asia has created the Tsunami Recovery Fund in response to the floods that swept across the Indian Ocean killing tens of thousands of people and leaving millions more injured and homeless in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and elsewhere. The Tsunami Recovery Fund will direct resources to the task of mid- and long-term reconstruction. Give2Asia, a nonprofit organization founded by the Asia Foundation to provide personalized philanthropic services to those who care about Asia, will work with local staff throughout the region to identify the most significant and unmet needs in the hardest hit areas.

Independent Sector (IS) members are among the organizations providing assistance, and IS is compiling a list of those involved at: http://www.IndependentSector.org/relief.htm. Independent Sector will be updating its Web site frequently as well as assisting reporters covering this story. Nonprofit organizations are invited to share how they, their partners, and grantees are responding to the humanitarian crisis.

The New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (NYRAG) has put together the NYRAG Grantmakers Tsunami Resource Clearinghouse on its Web site. The resource includes a list of potential grantees; resource organizations; assessment steps that grantmakers can take to gauge and implement their own response; and an interview with Florence Davis, president of The Starr Foundation, on lessons learned from past disaster relief efforts. NYRAG will continue to update its Web site as more information becomes available.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the government agency responsible for economic and humanitarian assistance around the world, has assembled a list of relief agencies working to assist those affected by the South Asia earthquake and tsunamis. The list includes the contact address and Web link for each agency. The USAID Web site also includes access to USAID's Guide to Effective Giving, fact sheets on the earthquake and tsunamis, and links to related resources.

The Pew Charitable Trusts is urging Americans nationwide and in the Trusts' home city of Philadelphia to lead the world in donations to help victims of the tsunamis that struck South Asian coasts. The Trusts itself has announced an immediate $1 million contribution to the American Red Cross. Rebecca W. Rimel, president and CEO of the Pew Trusts, said she hoped that major cities nationwide would each strive to meet or exceed the $1 million contribution level, and that the Philadelphia region would raise an additional $500,000.

The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) offers the general public Guidelines to Appropriate International Disaster Donations. These guiding principles provide answers to questions and concerns individuals have when an international disaster occurs. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, CIDI works with both the public and the private sector to minimize inappropriate donations in response to international emergencies and to maximize the benefit of U.S. public support for those affected by disaster.