Time Reports on Disaster Fatigue

The latest issue is Time reports on donor “disaster fatigue,” a reaction to the sheer number and scope of disasters that began to develop after Katrina and has grown since. Target Analytics documents it in its National Index.

clipped from www.time.com (NEW YORK) — The numbers are almost too large to fathom, so many Americans stop trying. As bodies pile up in disaster after global disaster, even the most sympathetic souls can turn away. Charities know this as “donor fatigue,” but it might be more accurately described as disaster fatigue — the sense that these events are never-ending, uncontrollable and overwhelming. Experts say it is one reason Americans have contributed relatively little so far to victims of the Burma cyclone and China’s earthquake. Ironically, the more bad news there is, the less likely people may be to give. “Hearing about too many disasters makes some people not give at all, when they would have if it had been just one disaster,” says Michal Ann Strahilevitz, who teaches marketing at Golden Gate University and specializes in the factors at play in charitable giving.