Though misunderstood at first, Doctors Without Borders’ bold decision to stop accepting tsunami-relief donation could help revive public trust in nonprofits.

By Paul Barbagallo

On Wednesday, Dec. 29, a message was posted to the organization’s Web site, DoctorsWithoutBorders.org, to let prospective donors know that its South Asia relief program was just about fully funded. By Friday, MSF had stopped collecting donations altogether.

“I was feeling concerned early on that we were going to get this deluge of restricted money that we really couldn’t spend. That’s why we put up that message,” Herman notes. “We wanted to be forthcoming with our intentions and also direct peoples’ attention to the other parts of the world that we’re serving.