Mar 15

Earthquake: Official National JETAA USA Fund Established

Earthquake Tsunami Add Comment (7)

Via JETAA USA:

Note:  Apparently paypal link here wasn’t working, so now I’ve linked below to the JETAA USA post which has a properly functioning paypal link.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO JETAA USA FUND VIA PAYPAL

I know that many of you have been awaiting next steps on a national JETAA USA fund. We’ve been in correspondence with JETAANY and JETAANC to work on a way to run a national fund through one of our 501c3′s (just found out that Great Lakes is one, as well!). After a lot of email conversations and a considerable amount of due diligence, JETAANY has graciously agreed to convert the JETAANY fund that was announced on Friday to the national JETAA USA fund!

The purpose of this fund is to bring the 19 U.S. chapters together in an organized and concerted effort to raise funds aimed at helping rebuild the affected areas in Japan. Instead of having 19 separate small funds, we felt that if we created a national initiative to drive fund-raising for Japan, it would bring together the JETAA USA community and inspire more overall participation from JET alumni in America.

In an earlier posting, the idea of sending a group of JET alums over to Japan to help with on-the-ground aid was considered. While the desire to be there in person to support Japan and its people during a time like this is very sincere, we realize the logistics and reality of it may be a bit lofty and far off for now. In light of this, we’ll table that idea and focus on raising funds, 100% of which will go towards relief efforts in Japan.

We encourage all 19 chapters to join this effort. We realize all chapters have differing levels of capabilities. No matter what you do and on what level you do it, it will be helpful and appreciated and will contribute to our national, collective effort. We will give all chapters which donate to this national fund a voice and a vote in how we use them. It will be a one-chapter, one-vote situation with a 2/3 majority deciding the outcome. The amount of money your chapter raises and adds to the pot will not reflect on the voting power your chapter has. Of course, the more you can raise, the more awesome you are.

Ideas for how these funds can be utilized or how they should be gifted will be a collective effort. We will canvas chapters for ideas, present the ideas to all chapters involved in the fundraising and then take a vote. Watch your inboxes and the google group forum for emails coming from that direction as well. It’s the best way for us to reach all officers and we will be relying on chapter presidents to be at the helm of local chapter organization.

Kelly Nixon, JETAANY treasurer, was able to get PayPal to agree to waive all transaction feeds from March 11 to April 10. Here is the link: http://bit.ly/jetaausafund

If you’re chapter is interested in embedding this information and a direct donation link to your webpage, please email Rod directly for the embedded code.  -Rod & Jessyca

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO JETAA USA FUND VIA PAYPAL

Note: Donations to all JETAA chapters in the US will be pooled.  So if you’ve already donated to JETAANY or any other chapters, it’s all going to the same fund.


7 comments so far...

  • Rashaad Jorden Said on March 15th, 2011 at 9:31 pm:

    I’ve already donated to fund established by JETAANY. So will my donation be forwarded (if that’s the right word) to the JETAA USA fund?

  • jetwit Said on March 15th, 2011 at 9:35 pm:

    @Rashaad – Yes, it will all go into the same fund. Thanks!

  • Rose Tanasugarn Said on March 15th, 2011 at 9:42 pm:

    Thank you all for your concerted efforts. I am a Shimane JET alum working for the Kobe Portopia Hotel which has hosted international Disaster Reduction conferences annually. I know from these conferences that the message is that the experts DO NOT want inexperienced and untrained volunteers to get in the way of their challenging and dangerous rescue/recovery operations, so donating funds is definitely a preferable way of showing your concern and care for your Japanese hometowns.

    I truly appreciate the hard work by everyone in setting up this JETAA USA fund and commend you all for your generosity and humanity in this time of crisis.

  • DeeZee Said on March 16th, 2011 at 5:33 am:

    Can you tell us how you plan to donate the funds once they are collected? Will they be given to an international aid group (ie the Red Cross) or will they be distributed another way?

    ’91 Fukushima alum here and looking for a way to help out. I was in Tomioka-mach and my heart is breaking for the people of “my” town. I can’t help thinking about how still it must be there after evacuation!

  • jetwit Said on March 16th, 2011 at 7:07 am:

    @DeeZee – Use of funds is to be determined after a clearer picture emerges of where needs are. (And there will be many needs in the months to come.) JETAA has begun the process of gathering info and input to figure out the best eventual use. This is the same approach that a number of other organizations are taking as well.

  • DeeZee Said on March 16th, 2011 at 2:05 pm:

    Thanks for the quick reply – I reread what was written in the blog and discovered what I had missed the first time so apologies for that and kudos for all you are doing!

  • JETwit.com - JETAA Fundraising: JETAA NY raffle night draws 300+, raises over $10K Said on April 6th, 2011 at 12:45 pm:

    […] last night at Slate (50 W. 21st St) and drew over 300 people while raising over $10,000 for the JETAA USA Fund.  The event also drew significant Japanese media coverage and included a table run by NY-based […]

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