Looking for a privately-funded disaster relief group not in bed with the US Government and its policies? Want to avoid FEMA-like scandals or various neocon US Govt. policies in developing countries? Think the World Bank/IMF and US Govt. are hypocritical in forcing poor countries to follow the US economic model?
Operation USA should be just what the doctor ordered: a non-governmental relief group worthy of the name "non-government" funded. Most of the large brand name relief groups derive 20-75% of all their funds from US government agencies and are therefore somewhat beholden to the political winds.
Charity Navigator, America's largest charity watchdog group, looked at hundreds of charities and determined that Operation USA,. a 29-year-old Los Angeles-based international relief group, ranks first among the top ten non-government funded charities.
www.opusa.org gets you more information.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/topten.detail/listid/17.htm gets you the Charity Navigator Top Ten rankings.