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San Diego Red Cross Sees Online Response After Huge Fires
SAN DIEGO, CA - October 30, 2003 - The ease and speed of the Internet has resulted in an outpouring of online donations and web-based volunteer registrations for the local chapter of the American Red Cross, during and after the huge wildfires there that killed 14 and destroyed 2000+ homes. "The flood of support for the American Red Cross during this terrible San Diego tragedy has been heartwarming, and gratefully appreciated," says Jeff Wiemann, chief financial officer at The American Red Cross San Diego/Imperial Counties chapter. "More than $600,000 have been collected through our website at www.sdarc.org, which has helped tremendously in keeping our phone banks manageable." Each Red Cross chapter has its own website, with information specific to the location. In San Diego, online contributors are offered a choice of donating to: Financial gifts enable the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Through the organization's website at www.sdarc.org, secure online donations have been collected from contributors using credit cards, electronic checks and PayPal. More funds are critically needed to support the hundreds of San Diego residents who have been displaced by the fire - many losing everything they owned. The secure software platform enabling the tremendous volume of donations was provided to the American Red Cross by San Diego-based Kintera Inc., a leading provider of software, as a service to nonprofit organizations. "People want to assist the Red Cross in their support efforts as quickly as possible, and the immediacy and convenience of the Internet is the best way they can help," says Harry Gruber, CEO and founder of Kintera. "Not only can they donate funds and spread the word to their families and friends to encourage them to give, but the website also has an online area in which concerned citizens can efficiently register to volunteer to help the cause." November 2003 | ||
