British Charities Tsunami Appeal Breaks World Record

On 20th January, the Guinness World Records announced that the response from the British public to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Tsunami Earthquake Appeal broke a World Record.

The Disasters Emergency Committee is an umbrella organisation of Britain's 12 leading aid agencies which launches and coordinates Britain's national appeal in response to major disasters overseas. Members of the DEC are ActionAid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern, Help the Aged, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, World Vision.

Donations to the tsunami can be made through the DEC website. It was recorded that between 6:16pm on 30th December and 6:16pm on the 31st December 2004, the website received 166,936 donations, raising £10,676,836. With the timely help of BT and their increased capacity, this is the most money ever donated online in 24 hours.

The DEC predicts that it will raise £200 million for the Tsunami earthquake appeal.

With the huge amount of funds being raised, members of DEC are now in an excellent position to respond to the emergency. They all now focus on ensuring the money is used on where it is needed most.

Brendan Gormley, Chief Executive of DEC, said: "The unprecedented generosity of the British Public has been humbling. DEC agencies are immensely grateful, and are working closely together to ensure that the money from this appeal is spent wisely and well."

Keith Ewing from Tearfund, one of the 12 members of the DEC, has just returned from Sri Lanka where he has been witnessing the aid operation. He said, "Our partners have been telling me how grateful they are for the support of the British people who have donated and who are standing with them across thousands of miles."

Beth Courtier, Head of Charity Programmes at BT, which provided the secure payments facility on the DEC site, said: "We are delighted to have helped with enabling DEC to handle the enormous amount of donations they have received through the telephone lines and online."

"Online donations are an important part of the DEC's fundraising strategy and will become increasingly important for other charity appeals in the future. Over 650,000 people have donated online through the DEC site since the Appeal began," he added, emphasising the importance of technical support.

Thanks to the invention of the internet, charities across the world which have launched special appeals after the devastating tsunami have enjoyed the efficient and responsive online donation system.

The Rev. Larry Hollon, top staff executive of United Methodist Communications, explained that the initial response for their tsunami appeal was so great because of the use of internet.

"Fortunately, we were online quickly and were able to offer people an efficient, functioning site within a few hours of the first news reports," he said. "The response since that time is heavy. Over a million people have viewed our messages, (and) several thousand have come to the site and made a secure donation. This is an amazing response."