Lions who donate to other relief agencies or Lions districts that donate directly to another district affected by the tsunami are to be commended for their generosity. But donating to LCIF carries several important advantages.

• Donations to LCIF are a highly efficient and effective way to help people impacted by the tsunamis. Every donated dollar goes directly to relief efforts; LCIF’s administrative costs are paid for by interest on investments.
  
  
• The donations empower local Lions who are familiar with the needs of their community to meet the most critical needs of their community. There are 73,000 Lions on the ground in the hardest hit regions of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia who are able to come to the aid of those most in need. LCIF has a long history of disaster relief and filling in the gaps not covered by other relief agencies.
  
  
• LCIF’s grants are often matched by grants from other agencies. Thus donations made to LCIF are eventually leveraged by other grants, maximizing the power and reach of a single donation.
  
  
• LCIF takes a comprehensive, coordinated approach to disaster recovery, instead of piecemeal solutions. LCIF strategically plans long-term recovery efforts by working with committees of leading Lions and by working with government officials and other non-governmental organizations. Quite frequently, the government officials and non-profit leaders are Lions themselves, immeasurably increasing LCIF’s ability to move projects forward to a speedy completion. In Sri Lanka, for example, the Minister of Housing is a Lion, and the Lions there are actually working in coordination with the government to direct other aid agencies.
  
  
• LCIF has rigorous, time-tested safeguards in place to ensure that its grants reach the people most in need. As a rule, LCIF does not send funding to local Lions districts without knowing precise needs and without assurance that the local Lions are avoiding duplication of efforts. Donors can rest assured also knowing there is strict oversight of grants:
  
  
  1. All emergency grants are awarded solely on the basis of a detailed application from the affected district. A specific action plan must be presented and must include which villages and how many people will be helped and what relief items will be purchased.
     
  2. Districts provide final reports that must include documentation, receipts and bank account statements for the funds disbursed, along with photos of the relief effort and other details. In South Asia, those final reports are audited and double-checked by LCIF’s office in Bombay.
     
  3. LCIF has been awarding Emergency Grants in these countries for 30 years and has vast experience in ensuring proper coordination and accountability.
     
  4. The local Lions who are spending the Emergency Grants also use their own funds and in many instances spend double or triple the amount that LCIF awarded them, which speaks to the care in which Lions use LCIF funds.