Charity of the week: All Hands Volunteers

last updated 8 January 2015

All Hands Volunteers (hands.org) provides immediate support to the victims of natural disasters around the world by dispatching both volunteers and hired technicians. In the wake of Tropical Storm Washi, which killed about 1,300 people and destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in the Philippines in 2011, AHV has worked to rehabilitate Cagayan de Oro—a city of 500,000 still choked with mud and debris—by repairing and sanitizing flooded homes and building more than 180 new homes from scratch. After Hurricane Sandy, AHV helped more than 200 families in hard-hit neighborhoods of New York’s Staten Island and Long Island, empowering 1,500 volunteers to work with local organizations to gut flooded homes, focusing efforts on eradicating mold before rebuilding.

Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which ranks not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their control of administrative and fund-raising expenses, and the transparency of their operations. Four stars is the group’s highest ranking.