美国国家公共电台 NPR--How to avoid being scammed when you want to donate to a charity

How to avoid being scammed when you want to donate to a charity

Transcript¹

With the devastation² in Turkey and Syria mounting, people around the world are sending financial donations to the region. But how can you identify the best and more reputable charities?

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

As we just heard, this earthquake and the hundreds of aftershocks in Turkey and Syria spells out a monumental and urgent need for help, and a lot of people are looking for ways to get their money to the right places quickly. Charity Navigator, a nonprofit that rates charities, says they're seeing it online.

MICHAEL THATCHER³: We're seeing double the traffic we've been seeing over the last couple of weeks.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Michael Thatcher is CEO of Charity Navigator and says, when deciding where to donate, start by figuring out how you want to help.

THATCHER: Think about - do I want to engage in the immediate⁴ - clearing the rubble⁵? Is it focused on children? And so what organizations are affecting really specific things you want to address and then find an organization that's doing that.

FADEL: And once you find a charity you want to support, Thatcher says do some research to avoid scams.

THATCHER: Go to a site like Charity Navigator, look up the organization and see if the organization that you're being asked to give to actually exists in our database. If it's a legal 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it'll be in our database. We have 1.6 million organizations there, and we won't let you give to a fake charity.

INSKEEP: If somebody should reach out to you for a donation...

THATCHER: Ask them for their employee identification number. It's a little bit like a Social Security number for the charity. If they can't give you that number, chances are you've got someone who really doesn't know anything about the organization, or they're not real.

FADEL: You should also look out for aggressive solicitations.

THATCHER: So a red flag is being pushed and coerced⁶ into giving when you're not quite ready to do so.

INSKEEP: Yeah, take your time. Now, there's a long list of organizations responding - for real - to the emergency in Turkey and Syria.

THATCHER: This spans from Save the Children, CARE, UNICEF USA, Doctors Without Borders, Project Hope, Direct Relief, the Islamic Relief USA.

FADEL: And then there are the local organizations in Turkey and Syria. And if you want to do more than donate, Thatcher says...

THATCHER: Look for volunteering opportunities that the charity is publishing.

FADEL: The need is urgent now. But with entire neighborhoods gone, that need won't disappear when the story's out of the headlines.

THATCHER: The media cycle will fade on this fairly quickly, but the cleanup is going to go on for a long time.

INSKEEP: Oh, yeah. That reminds me of a thing that people say in ordinary life - it's good to go to the funeral, but good to visit people long after the funeral is over.

One way to keep helping⁷, Thatcher says, is setting up a recurring⁸ gift once you find an organization that you do want to support.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

6 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。