Why Nobody Is Donating to Gulf Coast Oil Spill Victims

It's become virtually impossible to keep track of all the ways in which the BP oil spill has been a disaster for the Gulf Coast. The spill's environmental toll has clearly been horrendous, and we all know the impacts on wildlife and the tourism and fishing industries have been horrible too.

We all know these facts, and yet apparently very few of us — individual Americans, that is — have given money to help. According to reporting published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, environmental and wildlife charities have had relatively decent success raising money to clean up shorelines and rehabilitate oil-soaked birds, but most of the groups trying to raise funds to help the human victims of the spill are facing steep challenges.

For instance, Catholic Charities USA, an established national organization that has had roots along the Gulf Coast for years, has raised merely $37,000 to help out-of-work fishermen since the spill began on April 20. As a result, the group has had to turn away many of the fishermen who line up before dawn to pick up food vouchers so they can feed their families. In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, by contrast, the charity raised $160 million to help needy Gulf Coast residents. It's basically the same story at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, which has raised $250,000 for out-of-work folks along the Gulf Coast — about a fifth of what it raised in the same amount of time after Katrina. Beyond that, June's cable TV telethon raised less than $2 million for the Gulf, compared to a $57 million haul from the telethon for Haiti that ran on network television in January. Tell President Obama to declare the spill a "national disaster" to spur funding!

Both groups launched coordinated fund-raising drives as soon as the spill's severity became clear, just as they did in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. So why aren't charities that serve Gulf Coast residents receiving sufficient donations?

One answer is that the down economy has affected charitable giving across the board. People simply don't have as much disposable income to give to charity these days, so they're holding onto the money they do have tighter than ever before.

But that can't be the only answer, because overall giving numbers haven't fallen that much since five years ago — certainly not enough to account for Catholic Charities' $160 million/$37,000 disparity. The issue that's posing the most difficult problems charities working in the Gulf Coast, it turns out, is that most Americans think the spill's consequences are being taken care of by BP and/or the government. They think the $20 billion escrow fund for aid established by BP and the Obama administration, which has been talked about so much on the news, is helping fisherman and hospitality workers who have lost their livelihoods.

In fact, that's not the case at all. The $20 billion fund is not helping much of anyone in the short term. It will be a while before anyone on the Gulf Coast sees any of that money, and it's unclear whether it will even be sufficient to address the region's needs. Residents who no longer have jobs, or even an industry in which to find a job, can't wait for that money to come through to buy groceries or pay their rent. If you can give now, please do.

Photo credit: how_long_it_takes