Auction Winners Can Pick ASPCA or Doctors Without Borders

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was the first humane organization in the Western Hemisphere. Their mission, as stated by our founder, Henry Bergh, in 1866, is “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.”
website: http://www.aspca.org/
twitter: http://twitter.com/ASPCA

Katrina is auctioning off her first post-Women of the Web autograph at http://myworld.ebay.com/actionflickchick along with the only copy of the Bird vs. Nerd: Super Mario Bros. poster that will ever go on sale. Her preference was to give her net proceeds to the ASPCA without mentioning that she was doing so, but amid the outpouring of support for those suffering in Haiti, we decided that the auction winners (1) might want to know about that, (2) might prefer that the proceeds go to help alleviate very real and immediate human suffering, and/or (3) might prefer something more international in scope.

So she’s been investigating organizations that are helping with the crisis. Because history shows that hastily assembled charities often waste a lot of what gets raised, we choose to support one that’s well established.

Doctors Without Borders, a.k.a. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.
website: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/index.cfm
twitter: http://twitter.com/MSF_USA

For many of you, your preference for either might be obvious and as long as people help, that’s wonderful. We hope we can use this opportunity to raise awareness of both of these fine organizations. Please remember that sometimes when so many people show an outpouring of support during a specific crisis, ongoing charitable institutions suffer because some are supporting disaster relief instead of – rather than in addition to – charitable efforts they otherwise might have made.  Not everyone can go the extra mile, of course, but some can. Just keep that in mind.

The auctions end at about midnight Eastern, Tuesday night.

P.S. for those of you on twitter:

Donnette Davis, a twitter user whom we regard highly (@Donnette), has worked with Hilda S (@saffonberry) and Todd Dewell (@sbtodd) to arrange for a donor to help promote awareness of the plight in Haiti. The sponsor will donate $10 to Doctors Without Borders for each of the first 5,000 people who refer to @MentionHaiti in tweets.