Queensland and NSW floods: what you can do to help affected communities

More than $13m has been donated to support those affected by the devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales, and most of the money has been directed towards peer-to-peer fundraising efforts such as GoFundMe.

Many of those crowdfunding campaigns have been set up by people living in the flooded regions to cover urgent costs and fund relief and rescue efforts, including more than $20,000 raised to run a rescue helicopter.

Since 24 February, more than $9.6m has been donated across 1,700 fundraisers on the peer to peer platform GoFundMe. About 22% of all donations has been directed towards fundraisers based in the NSW northern rivers region. In Mullumbimby alone, 50 different campaigns have raised a total of $400,000.

But as the waters begin to subside and formal relief agencies move in to begin the long process of helping communities recover, those community-run efforts are being replaced by formal charities.

As of 9 March, the Red Cross Queensland and NSW flood appeal has raised $3.86m, and St Vincent de Paul has raised $162,000. The Salvation Army, which is aiming to raise $10m for flood relief, has repurposed $1m of funds from its Red Shield Appeal to begin initial recovery efforts.

So what should you do if you want to help?

Flood-affected communities have been overwhelmed with donations of goods, clothes and non-perishable foods. These items are vital in the first few days following a disaster but they are also bulky and difficult to store and distribute, and it is a lot of work for volunteers to check every item to make sure it is in good condition.

Crowdfunding is a great way to ensure funds are directed to a specific person, purpose or community, provided the campaign has been verified.

GoFundMe says it verifies fundraising campaigns published on its site and will not release funds raised on behalf of another person until the intended recipient has signed on as a party to the campaign and their identity has been verified.

But crowdfunded campaigns are not subject to the same levels of compliance checks and reporting requirements as formal charities.

After the 2019-2020 bushfires, the Fundraising Institute of Australia issued a new practice note to set out the minimum standards for charities that are fundraising in times of disaster. It sets out regular, transparent reporting of the funds raised and dispersed.

Registered charities are audited and required to produce regular reports on how funding from particular appeals has been used.

Byrne encourages people who are thinking of donating to research the organisation or fundraiser first.

The Salvation Army has been running evacuation centres in Lismore, helmed by the heads of the Salvation Army northern rivers branch, Philip and Donna Sutcliffe.

Those cash grants will be supported by wraparound services, which are ongoing.

The Red Cross has 550 staff and volunteers across Queensland and northern NSW working on the flood response, and is running 24 evacuation centres which have housed more than 11,000 people. Thirteen of those centres are in the northern rivers. It is also running the register find unite service, which enables people missing in the floods to register themselves as safe.