My Nonprofit Reviews

The Tigray Disaster Relief Fund (TDRF) is a dynamic organization that I had the pleasure of serving for two years in a volunteer capacity as a Board Member. This was an overwhelmingly positive experience for me as a professional and community member.

First, TDRF is an organization where your charitable donation will truly support the causes and communities you care about. A challenge a number of nonprofits are faced with (especially those with causes outside of the United States) is that how an organization spends their money may be different than what is expected by the donors or the public. However, TDRF is an organization that lives up to its mission and values, and donors can have the peace of mind that their contributions are effectively spent to directly support programs and services for the betterment of the people of Tigray. TDRF publishes many financial documents that allow the public to see exactly how funds are collected and spent by the organization.

In terms of work, TDRF carefully and systematically evaluates each project prior to funding and tracks the progress and outcome of all funded efforts to report back to donors and the public. Again, the organization communicates this information regularly through an Annual Report, Quarterly Newsletter and social media.

A special point to highlight is that TDRF is collaborative internally and externally. The culture of the organization values and fosters differing opinions, innovation and decisions made with group consensus. TDRF also works to build partnerships with other nonprofits that exist to further similar causes or provide similar benefits to the people of Tigray.

In addition to donating to TDRF, I would encourage those that are interested in supporting relief and development work in Tigray to consider volunteering their skills and talents to the organization. The contribution of your time is not only a benefit to the people of Tigray, but there are many tangible benefits and opportunities at the individual level.

In my experience, there was no better return on my time investment in community work than through TDRF’s board service. The impact you can make with only a couple of hours of board service or other volunteer work a month is dramatically higher than what one could accomplish with those same hours of other direct service. You can also develop invaluable skills in program management, marketing, public relations, communications, finance and more. Boards structured like TDRF that have a collaborative leadership style allow everyone on the team an opportunity to play a critical part in growing the organization.

I am certain TDRF will play a key role in supporting health, social, economic and educational causes in Tigray, as well as continuing to build synergy with sister organizations.

I hope you will choose to support TDRF in any capacity!