Mining the Mission | A Model Nonprofit Closes Up Shop
You wouldn’t expect to celebrate the closing of a nonprofit described as "a model of charitable giving."
But the news that the Survivors’ Fund, the largest charity set up to assist Washington-area victims of the September 11 attacks and their families, is closing its doors has a laudatory aspect to it, and the reason has everything to do with its unique approach, as reported by the Washington Post:
Although some leading charities cut large checks to the families of victims, the Survivors’ Fund followed a unique approach to giving, establishing a long-term personal trust of sorts for the victims, their families and first responders. Using a model similar to the one used after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, the Survivors’ Fund hired professional case managers to work with families one-on-one to help them move beyond their grief and on with their lives. That meant paying household bills for families who fell behind and guiding survivors to medical care and mental health counseling. If a family’s primary breadwinner had been lost, the charity helped other family members return to school and find jobs.
While other charities blew through their donations quickly, the Survivors’ Fund’s long-term approach and its recognition that the attacks enacted a terrible emotional as well as financial toll helped to get victims and families back on their feet. My fervent hope is that in closing up shop, the fund is sending a signal that the healing is well on its way. And in shutting down so publicly, with a 44-page report presented the other day at a global philanthropy summit in Washington, it is offering template for how to conduct such efforts in the future. | 501(c)
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