The role of business in emergency relief:

1. Mobilizing resources - The speed of decision-making in the private sector allows rapid disbursement of funds and deployment of resources, ensuring timely humanitarian action that not only saves lives but is also more cost-effective (e.g., ensuring clean water and sanitation can avert escalation of diseases).
2. Building Capacity: Business can contribute greatly to emergency relief efforts by providing essential products, services and technical expertise that are not available or are in insufficient supply within existing humanitarian aid operations.
3. Ensuring Sufficient Funds: The finite pool of resources currently available from the public sector for emergency relief efforts is increasingly insufficient to meet the needs assessed by the UN; by contributing financially, the private sector can play a huge role in meeting the needs of the affected populations.

What to Give:

1. Cash is always the preferred means of donation.
2. In-kind goods.
3. In-kind services and expertise.
4. Employee giving and cause related-marketing programs.

Contributions that cannot be accepted:

1. Goods or services that are not aligned with the goals of the UN.
2. Goods or services that require significant additional financial commitments by the UN e.g.: materials that do not include arrangements for their transport.
3. Medicines that do not meet the World Health Organization (WHO) requirements.
4. Used goods.
5. Untested new technologies or medicines.