FAQ Media Contacts and Queries: Arti Patel(arti@sulekha.net; 214.616.2749) Please go through the FAQs below. In case one of the FAQs below does not answer your doubts, please email us at relief@sulekha.net. Learn more about AID and CARE  How can I donate? You can donate directly using a credit/debit card through our secure payment gateway. This donation will be collected by Sulekha on behalf of AID(Association for India's Development) / CARE and will be presented to the respective organization to help with their relief and rehabilitation efforts.  How does the fund matching work? Sulekha.com team made great efforts reaching out to the corporations and high net worth individuals within and outside the Indian community to create a sizable matching fund. Sulekha has also created an option where donors contributing $500 or more can choose to be a part of the matching fund and be a prominent part of the matching fund donor list. Even ifthe matching fund is fully used up, you can continue to donate. While your donation however will not be matched, it will be paid to the charity you designate.  Can I donate by means other than a credit card payment? Yes you can send us a Cheque to our Austin address. Click here if you wish to send a cheque to AID  Will I get a receipt for tax purposes? As soon as you make your contribution online, you will receive an e-receipt in email from Sulekha.com. We will share your contact information with AID and in February they will issue a donation receipt which can be used for tax purposes.  My organization has a matching program. How can I avail of that? The straightforward way of doing this is to contribute online on Sulekha.com, and use the receipt that will be provided to present to your organization to avail of the matching donation.  What percentage of my contribution will be utilized for relief work? The credit card companies enabling online transactions deduct a transaction fee of about 2.5%. The net collections after deducting these costs will be sent by Sulekha.com to the AID Relief and Rehabilitation Fund. This fund is set aside by AID exclusively for expenses related to disaster relief and long-term rehabilitation work, including about 1-2% for essential supporting activities such as maintaining documentation and regular updates.  Can I choose to be an anonymous donor? Yes, you can. You can choose the name you want to appear across your donation. This can be your company's name, the name of an organization or any other name that you'd like to assume.  I wish to donate to Tsunami Victims in Sri Lanka and Indonasia. How do I do it? If you wish to donate to Tsunami Victims outside India you can contribute to CARE. CARE has chapters in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries affected by Tsunami. They are already involved in many relief efforts to help the Tsunami victims. AID FAQ  How can I send a Cheque to AID? If you wish to donate to AID you can send us a check payable to Association for India's Development to the following address - Smart Information Worldwide, Inc. 4926 Spicewood Springs Rd., Suite 101, Austin, TX 78726 (US) Phone: 512-231-9226 Please also include a note about whether you'd like to use the donation towards the matching fund or as a regular donation. Once again, if you are planning to contribute an amount higher than $500, we encourage you to choose the option of contributing to the fund matching pool.  How are the relief funds collected so far used by AID? The money raised will be sent to the AID Relief and Rehabilitation Fund. The Association for India's Development (AID), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization and all contributions to AID Inc. are tax-deductible in the US (Federal tax-ID is 04-3652609). The Relief and Rehabilitation Fund is used for supporting immediate relief and long-term rehabilitation after major disasters like the tsunami. AID has extensive experience in post-disaster efforts after the Orissa super-cyclone, Gujarat earthquake, floods in Assam, Bihar and West Bengal, and the communal riots in Gujarat. AID's response to the unprecedented Tsunami disaster will involve both immediate relief and long-term rehabilitation. AID is fortunate to have a strong network of partners in India, as well as a strong AID team in Chennai and Bangalore. AID is supporting relief efforts in the worst affected areas of Chennai, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Pondicherry and Kanyakumari. Well-staffed coordination centers have been set up in Chennai and Pondicherry, and several relief camps in all the districts. Trucks with relief material are being packed and sent from Chennai and Bangalore to all the affected areas. AID is also working with groups in Andamans and Andhra Pradesh. The fishermen community is the worst affected, and the most important and challenging work is the long-term rehabilitation and restoration of livelihoods. The focus will be to help the fisher people recover from the devastating loss of houses, fishing boats and nets. The role of AID-India and partner organizations will be two-fold: ensuring that the government rehabilitation program reaches the most needy people, and providing direct support to the large numbers of marginalized people who are left out of the government support. The AID Tsunami Relief website provides extensive information including photographs, field reports and media coverage. Click here for a sample report. CARE FAQ GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT CARE USA:  How can I send a Cheque to CARE? If you wish to donate toCARE you can send us a check payable toCARE to the following address - Smart Information Worldwide, Inc. 4926 Spicewood Springs Rd., Suite 101, Austin, TX 78726 (US) Phone: 512-231-9226 Please also include a note about whether you'd like to use the donation towards the matching fund or as a regular donation. Once again, if you are planning to contribute an amount higher than $500, we encourage you to choose the option of contributing to the fund matching pool.  Where is CARE USA located? We are headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia; CARE has field offices in 9 U.S. cities. CARE also has offices in each of the countries where we work.  Where does CARE work? CARE works in poor communities in more than 70 developing countries around the world. These countries and communities lack the resources to overcome poverty.  Who supports CARE? Hundreds of thousands of individuals and dozens of U.S. corporations, foundations and other organizations support CARE each year. We also obtain funding and commodities from governmental agencies, the European Union and the United Nations. CARE's program expenses in 2003 totaled more than $446 million.  Where do my donations go? The majority of our donors want their gift to be used wherever the need is greatest. This allows CARE the flexibility to use resources as efficiently as possible. CARE's financial records are available to the public. Ninety two percent of our expended resources support program activities. Eight percent of expended resources go toward administrative and fund-raising expenditures. We conform to the highest accounting and financial standards.  Can I donate clothes, food or other supplies? Whenever possible, CARE buys supplies locally, thereby supporting a developing economy.  Can I volunteer for CARE? CARE offers CARE Corps, an educational travel program for people interested in experiencing new places and interacting with different cultures. The program gives you the chance to experience our work firsthand, while you are learning about the challenges faced by poor communities. However, we generally don't recruit volunteers for fieldwork, for several reasons: Whenever possible, CARE works with local people in order to expand skills and knowledge in a country, as well as to ensure sustainability. Often, local laws prohibit or severely restrict the use of foreign volunteers. Most of our programs require specific expertise and several years of experience in international development and relief. Using volunteers internationally can be very costly in regard to airfare, meals and lodging. Most of CARE USA's regional offices do accept volunteers for clerical and staffing duties, or for certain fund-raising efforts. (Note: The Boston and Los Angeles offices do not accept volunteers.) Lastly... We are grateful and overwhelmed by the tremendous response being shown by the Sulekha community and others in a time of dire emergency. We are trying our best to manage this effort and aid thousands of affected individuals in India.