Tips on Donating for Oklahoma Tornado Relief

Arlington, VA (April 29, 2024) – During this past weekend dozens of tornadoes hit Oklahoma with significant damage to the towns of Sulphur, Holdenville and other areas. Parts of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas were also impacted.

To help those seeking to support relief efforts, BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following tips.

1. Look for appeal clarity.  Seek out appeals that are upfront and clear about what disaster relief services you are supporting.
2. Seek out experienced disaster relief charities.  Support experienced organizations that stand ready to provide quick and effective assistance. Be cautious of organizations that form overnight in the wake of a disaster.
3. Donate money or goods? Donating money is the quickest way to help and provides charities the flexibility to channel resources to impacted areas. Instead of donating food, consider supporting food banks near an impacted area. Visit Feeding America (a BBB Accredited Charity) which works with food banks across the country.
4. Verify the charity’s trustworthiness. Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. We recommend giving to charities that meet all 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability, found at BBB’s Give.org.
5. Consider crowdfunding requests. If engaging in crowdfunding, it is safest to give to someone you personally know and trust. Also review the platform’s policies and procedures, keeping in mind that while some crowdfunding sites take significant measures to vet posts, others don’t.

The following organizations are BBB Accredited Charities (i.e., meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability) are engaged in activities to assist tornado relief efforts. This list will be updated as additional efforts come to our attention.

American Red Cross
Salvation Army
Matthew 25: Ministries

ABOUT BBB WISE GIVING ALLIANCE: BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB’s Give.org) is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of nationally soliciting charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 holistic standards that address charity governance, results reporting, finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. National charity reports are produced by BBB’s Give.org and local charity reports are produced by local Better Business Bureaus – all reports are available at Give.org.

ABOUT BBB: The Better Business Bureau has empowered people to find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust for over 110 years. In 2023, people turned to BBB more than 218 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on about 12,000 charities, all available for free at BBB.org. The International Association of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.