BUSH ADMINISTRATION SEEKING DONATIONS TO REBUILD IRAQ........OMG!!!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

New twist on aid for Iraq: U.S. seeks donations By Cam Simpson

Washington Bureau

Sun Sep 18, 9:40 AM ET

 

 

 

From the Indian Ocean tsunami to the church around the corner,

Americans have shown time and again they are willing to open their

pocketbooks for charity, for a total of about $250 billion last year

alone.

 

 

 

But now, amid pleas for aid after Hurricane Katrina, the Bush

administration has launched an unusual effort to raise charitable

contributions for another cause: the government's attempt to

rebuild Iraq.

 

Although more than $30 billion in taxpayer funds have been

appropriated for Iraqi reconstruction, the administration earlier

this month launched an Internet-based fundraising effort that it says

is aimed at giving Americans " a further stake in building a free and

prosperous Iraq. "

 

Contributors have no way of knowing who's getting the money or

precisely where it's headed because the government says it must keep

the details secret for security reasons.

 

But taxpayers already finance the projects for which the

administration is seeking charitable donations, such as providing

water pumps for farmers. And officials say any contributions they

receive will increase the scope of those efforts rather than relieve

existing taxpayer burdens.

 

The campaign is raising eyebrows in the international development and

not-for-profit communities, where there are questions about its

timing--given needs at home--and whether it will set the government

in competition with international not-for-profits.

 

On a more basic level, experts wonder whether Americans will make

charitable donations to a government foreign aid program and whether

the contentious environment surrounding Iraq will make a tough pitch

even tougher.

 

" I'm a little skeptical, and the timing certainly isn't the best, "

said James Ferris, director of the Center on Philanthropy and Public

Policy at the University of Southern California. " It's going to be a

hard sell. "

 

Cost of rebuilding skyrockets

 

The U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal

government's primary distributor of foreign aid, said

Friday, " Charitable contributions play an important role in enriching

and extending U.S. government efforts. "

 

The effort is just the newest twist in the administration's struggle

to rebuild Iraq. Andrew Natsios, head of USAID, first predicted it

would cost taxpayers no more than $1.7 billion. The tab has since

risen to more than $30 billion, with congressional Republicans and

Democrats sharply critical of the high cost and slow pace of progress.

 

In addition, the new campaign comes amid increasing concerns that

some of the administration's major projects in Iraq will be scrapped

or only partially completed because of rising costs, especially for

security. Some officials fear money may run out before key projects

are completed.

 

Natsios announced the campaign in a speech Sept. 9. In a press

release issued the same day, USAID said its new Web site " will help

American citizens learn more about official U.S. assistance for Iraq

and make contributions to high-impact development projects. "

 

Although USAID has received private donations from corporations in

the past, this might be the first time it has geared a charity pitch

for U.S. foreign aid dollars to citizens.

 

Initially, the Web site, called Iraqpartnership.org, is offering

potential contributors a choice of eight projects, each seeking

$10,000 or less. They include purchasing computers for centers

designed to assist Iraqi entrepreneurs, buying furniture and supplies

for Iraqi elementary and high schools, paying for the production of

posters to promote " awareness of disabilities and rights issues, " and

buying water pumps for farmers.

 

There is also a general Iraq country fund, offering donors " another

high-impact giving opportunity without making them have to specify a

project. "

 

All of the projects are from USAID's existing portfolio of

reconstruction programs in Iraq, according to the agency.

 

Security issues obscure details

 

Heather Layman, a USAID spokeswoman, said the efforts are being

carried out by five private organizations working on Iraq

reconstruction with USAID funding. The site does not provide details

about the groups involved or the project locations because

of " security issues in Iraq. "

 

The government says all contributions are tax-deductible.

 

William Reese, the president and CEO of the International Youth

Foundation, said USAID officials did not discuss the campaign with a

special advisory committee that he serves on and formerly headed.

 

That committee, made up primarily of representatives from non-profit

groups working overseas, is supposed to help " provide the

underpinning for cooperation between the public and private sectors

in U.S. foreign assistance programs, " according to USAID.

 

Reese said some not-for-profit groups may see the effort as

competition, but he predicted few would be concerned because of a

more basic issue: While Americans are generous, he said, " I don't

think your average Joe is going to write a check to the U.S.

government. "

 

Carol Lancaster, a foreign aid expert and associate professor at

Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, also questioned

the premise of the program.

 

" Places that are seen as public agencies or clones of public agencies

don't get private donations, " said Lancaster, a former deputy

administrator at USAID. " People generally believe, `It's government,

so government should pay for it.' "

 

Nassarie Carew, a spokeswoman for InterAction, an umbrella group of

more than 160 non-profits working overseas, said her organization

also was not aware of the effort. Its CEO, Mohammad Akhter, serves on

the USAID advisory panel. Carew declined to comment until the group

had a chance to survey its members.

 

Layman, the USAID spokeswoman, called the Web site " a passive

solicitation, " saying potential donors would likely find it only if

they were " looking for a way to support Iraq's redevelopment. "

 

She also said some " people who might have donated to projects in Iraq

will now choose to put money toward Katrina relief, " but that

others " will still want to help in Iraq. "

 

She said Iraqi-Americans specifically had asked USAID to help them

find an avenue for contributions.

 

Raising charitable contributions for overseas projects can be a

challenge even when the U.S. government is not at the center of the

pitch. And Iraq is one of the government's more controversial foreign

policy ventures in decades.

 

DevelopmentSpace Foundation Inc., the group that set up the Web site

for USAID, operates its own, separate Web site seeking charitable

donations for small-scale projects in developing countries.

 

Since its founding in 2001, that effort has raised a total of about

$2 million, said Allison Koch, a foundation spokeswoman.

 

The organization keeps a 10 percent commission for contributions and

has received most of its operating funds through major grants from

several other foundations. USAID also gave it a grant of $1.5

million.

 

So far, $39 donated

 

Although in its infancy, the Iraqpartnership.org Web site had

generated contributions totaling $39 as of Friday night.

 

According to the Giving USA Foundation, which tracks annual

charitable donations by Americans, international giving accounted for

2.1 percent of all charity in the U.S. last year.

 

Ferris, the director of the USC philanthropy center, said that's

because people want to donate to causes closer to home.

 

Except for the fact that the aim of foreign aid is to bolster U.S.

foreign policy objectives overseas, Ferris said the new USAID

campaign seems like a natural extension of the growing trend toward

public-private partnerships.

 

" There is this blurring of the lines, " he said. " A lot of things once

paid for by the public are now paid through private sources. "

 

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csimpson