Doctors Without Borders

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) presented its 2011 International ECHO Awards at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center during the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition, which concludes Oct. 6.

Nonprofit winners include Ministry of Health, Heart of the City/Auckland Council, Doctors Without Borders, SickKids Foundation / Winning Charities International, Outreach International, World Jewish Congress Foundation, World Vision U.S. and The Salvation Army in Canada.

Development aid news and job board service Devex recently announced the Devex Top 40 Development Innovators.

Ten days after the devastating earthquake and tsunamis in Japan, American donors have contributed more than $136-million for relief efforts, according to a Chronicle tally. Nearly two-thirds of the total has been raised by one organization, the American Red Cross.

The rate of donations is slower than after last year’s earthquake in Haiti and after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Nine days after the disaster in Haiti, donors had contributed more than $355-million, and nine days after Katrina they had given more than $740-million.

Check out posts from the GiveWell and MarketingProfs blogs.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation announced that Handicap International, the largest non-governmental organization providing assistance and advocacy for people with disabilities, will receive the 2011 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize of $1.5 million. The Hilton Foundation presents the annual award, the world's largest humanitarian prize, to an organization that is doing extraordinary work to alleviate human suffering. Handicap International was selected for the 2011 Prize by a prestigious independent international jury.

Charlotte Brandin of World Childhood Foundation USA and Fredrik Oscarson of Mobiento shared ways that WCF, Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International implemented mobile fundraising and advocacy at the 2011 Nonprofit Mobile Day.

The strongest-ever earthquake to hit Japan triggered a tsunami that moved across the Pacific Ocean. The Associated Press reports that at least 300 people have already died.

Here are early responses from large international-aid charities, grant makers, and other groups:

Three fundraising professionals tackled donor retention in the session “Fundamentals of Retention — The Types of Programs & Associated Creative Offerings to Effectively Retain Donors” at the DMA Nonprofit Federation’s 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference.

For many charities this holiday season, sharp increases in fund raising are an unexpected holiday gift, a new Chronicle poll finds.

Fifty-three percent of the 181 organizations that reported on the state of their November and December appeals told The Chronicle that they were raising more than they had during the same time a year ago. One in five said their donations had jumped by 20 percent or more.

American charities say they haven’t raised nearly what they need to help Pakistan’s flood victims.

Aid workers report that they are being forced to decide which assistance programs are most urgent, scale back plans to serve more people, and close clinics ahead of schedule because they lack sufficient cash.