We sent a Barbie to my niece in Baoji today. Her family and neighbors have been sleeping outside, more or less, for the last 2 weeks out of fear of more aftershocks, though their houses are fine. We sent more than just the doll, but that's something she's wanted for a long time so hopefully that, along with the box of other gifts and necessities, will lift her spirits. Baoji appears to be relatively safe so far, and they cleared the Chengdu - Baoji railway line on Friday and are supposed to open it up to traffic in the coming week.

I too received (along with, but separate from, Stan, it seems) a couple of emails in the last few days about a post on the Red Cross, other NGOs and NPOs. The point of that post was to be 100% sure where one's money is going to and to use all available vetted information to ensure money is reaching the right places. A smart lemming doesn't blindly accept the conventional wisdom, especially a lemming working in a multinational corporation that needs to have full transparency over all donations and China expenditures. Well-intentioned people who follow links in emails and icons on websites could be taken to phishers and other bad-intentioned people seeking to cash-in on tragedy. After Katrina in the USA, there were phishers circulating email spam sending people to fake websites, so always be sure to whom you are donating if you are a doing a Web-based donation.

The best way to help people in the earthquake areas is to be very sure that the money you are giving will definitely be used in the way you wish it to be used; and the best way (though not foolproof) to do that if you don't have a couple of months to do true due diligence is to trust organizations and agencies that have taken the time to do a little fact-finding themselves — not just trusted Web chatter. But even if you are using an organization's vetted list of "accepted" NGOs, find out their methodology and how they have chosen those NGOs in the first place. This is a way to protect your company (and your job) from any political fallout if you find that your money is not being used correctly. Off the top of my head, UNICEF and Care for Children have each detailed in recent days specific ways they are going to use money raised for the earthquake relief. Also for a company wanting to involve staff, contact Rich at Hands On Shanghai as I'm sure he's doing lots and has had no time to sleep the past week. Who's an expert on where to give money and what to do? Nobody. You need to trust your research and relationships in China to ensure your company's money is converted into immediately usable support for earthquake relief.

After seeing last year how foreign corporations were very worried about the activities of a certain international sporting organization's Chinese organizing entity and how it was dealing with matters in Shanghai, it is more important than ever to put more faith in the management and structure of an NGO rather than just blindly following its "name".

The above comments go for any type of market entry into China. Due diligence, reliance on vetted information, relationships, and lots of luck.