PEOPLE ALL OVER AMERICA WERE emotionally and intellectually overwhelmed by the plight of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Everyone wanted to do what they could to help - but how?  That was the question, and to answer it, America turned to trusted brands: The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, MSNBC, MTV, CNN to name a few.  The bigger the brand, the bigger the trust.  In fact, President Bush asked Americans to send money to the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army during one of his first press conferences after the hurricane.

If you type Katrina Hurricane Relief or a similar phrase into a search engine, you'll get hundreds of thousands of sites.  Add the word "donate" to your search query, and the keyword marketing kicks in hard.  You'll find companies like Amazon (where you can donate to the Red Cross with one click) right in the middle of the effort.

Is there a better way to help?  There are hundreds of interesting Web site that have popped up this week offering to help people find loved ones, donate money, build houses, or work on the recovery effort.  In fact, almost anything you can think of has a Web site dedicated to making it happen. (Which, by the way, is a wonderful benchmark in our transition to an information economy.) I assume that most of these sites are genuine and that the people running them are trustworthy and will do what they say they will do, but how can I be sure?

Are the issues of brand trust, consumer permissions and brand relevance amplified in the aftermath of a crisis, or are consumers more motivated to find exactly what they want in stressful times?  Are there trusted search tools (other than word of mouth and asking friends) that will be more trusted?

I've included a list of organizations that are dedicated to helping America heal itself. 

Donate and Volunteer  

" Adventist Development Relief Agency -- (800) 424-2372

" American Friends Service Committee -- (888) 588-2372

" American Red Cross -- (800) 435-7669 / (800) HELP-NOW / (800) 257-7575 (Spanish)

" AmeriCares -- (800) 486-4357

" American Refugee Committee -- (612) 872-7060

" America's Second Harvest -- (877) 817-2307

" ASPCA -- (866) 275-3923

" BAPS Care International

" Baptist World Aid -- (703) 790-8980

" B'nai B'rith International -- (888) 388-4224

" Brother's Brother Foundation -- (888) 323-1916

" Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund

" Catholic Charities USA -- (800) 919-9338

" Catholic Relief Services

" Christian Children's Fund -- (800) 776-6767

" Christian Reformed World Relief Committee -- (800) 55-CRWRC

" Church World Service -- (800) 297-1516 ext 222

" Counterpart International, Inc. -- (888) 296-9676

" Direct Relief International -- (805) 962-3700

" Episcopal Relief and Development -- (800) 334-7626

" Feed the Children -- (800) 525-7575

" Florida Hurricane Relief Fund

" Food for the Hungry -- (877) 780-4261 ext 2506

" Gifts In Kind International

" Habitat for Humanity -- (866) 720-2800

" Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless -- (404) 755-3353

" Interchurch Medical Assistance -- (877) 241-7952

" International Aid -- (800) 251-2502

" International Medical Corps -- (800) 481-4462

" International Mission Board

" International Orthodox Christian Charities -- (877) 803 4622

" International Relief and Development, Inc. -- (703) 248-0161

" International Relief Teams -- (619) 284-7979

" International Rescue Committee -- (877) 733-8433

" Islamic Relief -- (888) 479-4968

" Life for Relief and Development -- (800) 827-3543

" Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation

" Lutheran Disaster Response -- (800) 638-3522

" MAP International -- (866) 627-4483

" Mennonite Disaster Service

" Mercy (M-USA) -- (800) 55-MERCY

" MercyCorps -- (800) 852-2100

" Mission to the World

" Moveon.org: Hurricane housing

" National Organization for Victims Assistance -- (800) TRY-NOVA

" Network for Good

" Noah's Wish -- (530) 622-9313

" North Shore Animal League -- (877) 4savepet

" Northwest Medical Teams -- (800) 959-4325

" Operation Blessing -- (800) 730-2537

" Operation USA -- (800) 678-7255

" Oxfam America -- (800) 77OXFAM

" Presbyterian Disaster Assistance -- (800) 872-3283

" Project HOPE

" Quarters From Kids

" Relief International -- (800) 573-3332

" Salvation Army -- (800) SAL-ARMY

" Samaritan's Purse -- (800) 665-2843

" Save the Children -- (800) 728-3843

" Society of St. Vincent de Paul

" Southern Baptist Convention -- (888) 571-5895

" The Baton Rouge Area Foundation -- (877) 387-6126

" The US Coast Guard Foundation -- (860) 535-0786

" The Humane Society of the United States -- (888) 259-5431

" The United Way -- (800) 272-4630

" UNICEF USA -- (800) 4UNICEF

" Union for Reform Judaism

" United Jewish Communities

" United Methodist Committee on Relief -- (800) 554-8583

" U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) -- (202) 347-3507

" Water Missions International -- (843) 769-7395

" World Concern -- (800) 755-5022 ext. 0

" World Emergency Relief

" World Health Organization

" World Hope International -- (888) 466-4673

" World Relief -- (800) 535-5433

" World Vision -- (888) 56-CHILD  

Locate the Missing

" Alabama Hospital Association

" American Red Cross Family Links Registry -- (877) 568-3317 / (877) LOVED-1S

" Homeport: Hurricane Katrina Disaster Recovery Assistance

" Hurricane Katrina Connection message board

" Hurricane Katrina Official Government Website

" Katrina people search

" National Next of Kin Registry -- (800) 915-5413

" NOLA.com Missing Persons Forum

" Official Web site of Louisiana

" Operation get-in-touch

Comments

[VM]

Thank you for the useful data on helping Katrina victims, we've come a long way since Katrina and we all can continue to help the rebuilding process, there's so much to do! Thank you for your wonderful resource.