Catholic charities in the US was established in the year 1910,its main goals were to provide free service to the needy as well as advocating for social justice in the society. In the year 2010, the charity organization comprised of more than 1500 agencies and institutions all under the catholic charities network.
In the aftermath of disasters, the organization has often been compelled by compassion to support the victims. In the past catholic foundation has helped several hurricane victims to rebuild their lives.
For instance, in Baltimore in the year 1998, catholic relief delivered much support to the victims in the aftermath of that tragedy, catholic relief services were reported to have been the first institution apart from the government agencies to offer support in the area.
It has been noted that the catholic charities in the past few years have slightly shifted to disaster management and their impact has been huge. Through their combined effort with the USAID, the organization has made huge contributions in the history of US disaster managements.
They have actively been involved in the resettlement of hurricane-affected victims in the Honduras, Mitch, California and across Hawaii.
In this regard, many catholic charities have gotten high ratings from the private agencies. However, the organization charitable foundation is still blurred by numerous challenges thus more applicable policies need to be implemented in their disaster management programs.
In Honduras, the organization found their charity service involving. Catholic agencies in Honduras were familiar with well-practiced plans and budget but the hurricane disaster of 1998 caught them unaware.
Their infrastructures were severely damaged by the storm hence the agencies needed support of more than $100,000 to support the victims. Thus, economist should treat charitable funding as a demanding activity. They should then involve all members of the community in delivering services and funds to the affected communities.
Therefore, it is advisable for such religious organization to appeal for more funding from other religious and corporate organizations globally to ensure to meet their goals. However, during these processes vigilance and legitimacy of donor funding should be upheld.
Critics argue that most corporate philanthropy acts are advocated by managers for their own self-gains and to boost their shareholder values. To avoid such accusations, economists are to ensure that they present practical and logical proposals to corporations to validate their legitimacy for philanthropy.
Through their disaster reliefs programs the organization should characterize disasters into four stages and should realize that their support does not only end when the media coverage subsidies but continues afterwards for a long period.
In my opinion, the catholic relief services should know and differentiate each phase of disaster relief, as each phase has different goals and objectives. Therefore, their donor support should first be directed towards restoration of order in the affected community.
Secondly, the second phase should be aimed at stabilizing and restoration of the daily activities in the affected areas. Similarly, in the last two phases, funding should be directed towards community rebuilding and education. This is done to mitigate and enlighten the affected society in case of future catastrophe.
If these acts are followed and implemented as they are required, the donor’s aims and goals of funding will effectively be achieved.
One of the most challenging tasks facing managerial economist in catholic charity services is the choice private organizations to work with for effective delivery of services. Their economist should wisely consider this choice before making any effort of support, as in the aftermath of a disaster many charitable organizations spring up claiming to support the victims, among which most are illegitimate.
Therefore, all donor organizations should make educated choice on whom to channel their support if they are to realize the effective impact of their contribution. Through the use internet the managerial economist are required to assess various organizations websites to ascertain their legitimacy and for effective assessment, they are supposed to consult their church representatives in the affected regions.
Similarly, catholic relief services should focus should on where their funding is directed. Is it national or international? Similarly, they should consider the phases of their funding. Immediately after a disaster, support to the victims is normally achieved through the national and international donor associations.
This is made possible by their united effort in assembling resources globally and using them to meet the victims’ needs. In such instances, local community donors are usually immobilized with the rest of the victims. Therefore, managerial economist should consider funding their support in the early days after a tragedy.
If the organization is to make a social impact in their current and future areas they lend their support, educated and informed decisions are to be made. Similarly, the financial economist must decide on the form of support they are going to engage in.
Therefore, the issue of use money or labor support comes in. Monetary support is the most effective way of assisting the affected victims as the managerial economist have limited information on the affected communities.
As a result donations inform of cash should be termed as the most effective way of donor funding as cash are flexible allowing the charity teams to allocate the funds where there are most needed. Consequently, when committing charity towards international reliefs, managerial economist ought to consider allocating the funds to specific areas rather than on specific catastrophes.
If this is done, the donors fund will effectively be used during and after the catastrophes to mitigate on the disasters. After the victims’ needs are met, donor money may then be used to educate the population and to implement appropriate measures and strategies meant to reduce the futures communities’ risk.
Such measures are very appropriate in disaster recurring zones such as Gulf coast hit regularly by hurricanes. Because the catholic charity services cannot thwart such tragedies, they are required to help their communities in strategically planning and allocating appropriate charity funds to make a difference in the victims’ lives.