Pakistan Flood Relief Fund

• Donating criteria
• Fundraising criteria
• Information for registered Canadian charities
• Guidelines for submitting proposals to the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund

Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan in late July and August caused devastating floods and left millions of people in need of emergency assistance. In response, the Government of Canada created the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund.

Individual Canadians donated over $46.8 million to registered Canadian charities for Pakistan flood relief between August 2 and October 3, 2010. The Government of Canada has put an equivalent amount into the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund. CIDA is allocating these funds to established Canadian and international humanitarian and development organizations for humanitarian assistance, early recovery, and reconstruction efforts that benefit the people in Pakistan most affected by the floods.

Donating criteria

Eligible donations had to be:

• Monetary, up to $100,000
• Made by an individual Canadian
• Made to registered Canadian charities that received donations in response to the July-August floods in Pakistan
• Specifically earmarked by such registered charities for the purpose of responding to the floods
• Made between August 2 and October 3, 2010

Donations had to be made by October 3, 2010, in order to ensure that CIDA's equivalent contribution to the relief fund was mobilized quickly to respond to emergency needs in Pakistan.

Both tax-receipted and non tax-receipted donations were eligible to be counted toward the size of the relief fund. Donations had to be made in cash or by cheque, money order, credit card, or wire transfer. Donations made by Canadian individuals by cheque had to be issued from a personal bank account (that of the individual) and not a corporate bank account.

Not all registered Canadian charities were collecting funds for the disaster response. If you wanted your donation to be matched by an equivalent contribution from the Government of Canada to the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund, you had to make sure that your donation met the criteria above.

The Canada Revenue Agency keeps a list of registered Canadian charities. To confirm that a charity is registered, please check the charities listings on their website.

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Fundraising criteria

Eligible donations:

• Included amounts from a fundraising event by schools, faith-based organizations, clubs, social groups, businesses, incorporated entities, or registered Canadian charities to raise money from individuals in response to the July-August floods in Pakistan.
• Excluded any donations by corporations, governments, businesses, partnerships, schools, incorporated or non-incorporated entities, and unions from their existing resources that were not raised from individuals specifically in response to the July-August floods in Pakistan.
• Collected by a registered Canadian charity and given to another such organization were declared only once to CIDA.
• Excluded donations that were made by corporations, governments, incorporated entities, charitable organizations, unions, or government bodies (provincial, territorial, or municipal) to augment an amount raised in a fundraising activity or event.

Information for registered Canadian charities

To make sure that donations collected by registered Canadian charities in response to the floods were taken into account in determining the size of the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund, the charities concerned were required to complete and send in the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund Declaration Form (MS Excel, 55 KB, 2 pages) to CIDA, attesting to the amount of eligible donations received. This form had to be received by CIDA on or before October 18.

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Guidelines for submitting proposals to the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund

The Government of Canada is using the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund to support experienced Canadian and international humanitarian and development organizations with significant in-country capacity to deliver humanitarian, early recovery, and reconstruction assistance in Pakistan, using established channels and procedures.

Non-governmental organizations interested in applying for funding should first ensure that they meet the minimum institutional eligibility requirements. For information on eligibility requirements and on how to apply for humanitarian assistance funding, please see the CIDA Guidelines for Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Project Proposals and Reports (PDF, 425 KB, 43 pages).

Allocation of funds

Registered Canadian charities that raised funds for the Pakistan Flood response will not have privileged access to the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund. Allocation decisions will be based on CIDA's humanitarian and development assistance guidelines and the ability of Canadian and international humanitarian and development organizations to access the affected populations and deliver timely, effective, and appropriate humanitarian assistance, early recovery, and reconstruction activities.

For further information on the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund, please contact CIDA's Public Inquiries Unit:

• Toll free: 1-800-230-6349
• Toll free for the hearing and speech impaired only: 1-800-331-5018
• Email: info@acdi-cida.gc.ca

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