CARE USA shifts into fundraising overdrive when disaster strikes, but its day-to-day development plan keeps it at the forefront of humanitarian-aid organizations.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

It was a tense time for organizations such as CARE, much of whose work takes place in the very countries that Americans associate with terrorism. Hicks says the organization saw the number of daily donations, which normally range in the thousands, dwindle to eight or 10.

“It was a real moment of panic for the organization,” he admits, “but our donors all came back to us and, indeed, in fiscal year 2001, we hit our revenue targets. The revenue pain for us was very short-lived, and we were very gratified by the way our donors responded to what was going on.”