How to donate to Gaza safely

Six checks before you give

Run these on any organisation asking for money for Gaza. None takes more than a few minutes.

• Go to the source. Type the organisation's web address yourself instead of tapping a link in a message, comment or ad. Scam appeals often copy real charities' names and photos.
• Look for a legal name and a registration number, then check them on the regulator's register for that country (links below). A registered charity will tell you its number.
• Ask how aid gets in. A credible organisation can explain, in plain terms, who delivers aid in Gaza, whether it works with UN agencies or local partners, and how deliveries are recorded. Our guide to how aid reaches Gaza explains the routes.
• Look for reporting you can check: published accounts, programme updates with dates and places, or, for crypto, wallet addresses you can look up on a public blockchain.
• Be wary of pressure. Countdown timers, "last chance" messages and emotional DMs are designed to stop you checking.
• Pay in a traceable way, and keep your receipt or transaction ID.

Warning signs of a Gaza donation scam

Consumer-protection agencies describe the same patterns after every major crisis. Be cautious if you see any of these:

• A request that reaches you unprompted by direct message, text or email, especially from an account you don't know.
• No verifiable name, address or registration, or details that don't match the regulator's register.
• Insistence on payment by cash, gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency. The US Federal Trade Commission lists all four as the ways scammers ask to be paid, and recommends a credit card for its protections.
• A crypto address sent to you privately rather than published on the organisation's own website.
• Vague claims ("100% goes directly to families") with no explanation of how.
• Pressure to give immediately, or refusal to answer questions.

Official tools to check a charity

Most countries run a free public register. If an organisation says it is a registered charity, you can confirm that yourself:

• United States: the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, plus your state charity regulator. The FTC also runs ReportFraud.ftc.gov for scams.
• United Kingdom: the Charity Commission's register of charities and the Fundraising Regulator's directory. UK regulators also run Donate with Confidence.
• Canada: the CRA's list of charities, which shows whether a charity is registered, revoked or suspended.
• Australia: the ACNC Charity Register, and Scamwatch for donation scams.
• Ireland: the Charities Regulator's register of charities.
• New Zealand: the Charities Services register.
• South Africa: the NPO Directorate at the Department of Social Development. Registration there is voluntary, so an unregistered organisation isn't automatically a fraud, but a registered one is easier to check.

Giving in crypto safely

Crypto can move money across borders quickly, but it removes the safety net a bank card gives you: a transfer can't be charged back. Only send to addresses published on the organisation's own website, check the address after pasting it, and send a small test amount first for a large gift. Our step-by-step guide to donating to Gaza with crypto covers networks, fees and address checks in detail, and our article on avoiding crypto donation scams goes further.

Where to donate for Gaza

There's no single right answer. UN agencies, large international charities and smaller community organisations all deliver aid in different ways, and each suits different donors. If you want a registered charity and a tax-deductible receipt, choose one that is registered with the regulator in your country. If you give in crypto, take the address only from the organisation's own website, and choose one that can explain its delivery route. Whoever you choose, the checks above apply.