NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - One year later, the work of the charities has only just begun. Nobody has produced a definitive list outlining how the biggest charities have divvied up the billions of dollars in donations that flowed in following Sept. 11.
But a recent study by United Services Group, a non-profit set up to coordinate services among all the charities, estimated people received an average of $90,000 as of May. The figure was based on a survey sent to 1,139 family members, survivors, and others affected by the tragedy.
From The September 11th Fund, families of the victims and survivors of the attacks received $20,000 each in emergency aid in the months after the attacks (in the form of two $10,000 checks.) For those displaced from their homes, the average payout was $6,000, ranging anywhere from $500 up to a maximum of $10,000. People who suffered on the job front received a total of $4,000.
The Red Cross declined to say what the average payout has been, or give any examples of what people received. But the group said it will have given out a total of $843 million in cash assistance by the end of the year. It is in the process of issuing $45,000 estate gifts to families of the victims. Families and survivors will get an average total payout of about $121,000 over the lifetime of the fund, while displaced workers will get roughly $6,000, said spokesman Phil Zepeda.
Many other organizations, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities USA, also have given millions. By one estimate, there are nearly 200 charities providing cash and other forms of aid. None of those groups has tallied individual awards, but from FEMA, there was $26.7 million to 5,306 households for temporary housing; $45.8 million in mortgage and rental assistance; $8.4 million to 6,500 households in emergency aid; and $12.5 million to 3,2100 workers and business owners.
More recently, the Department of Justice's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 stepped into the picture with an estimated pot of $6 billion. Congress had set up the fund as a way of preventing a wave of lawsuits against airlines, airports and others that could be considered negligent. The fund has paid out nine claims totaling $9 million. The payments ranged from $300,000 to $3 million.
Of course, the cash assistance is only part of the helping hand to the survivors and family members. Millions more was spent on programs and services.
Calculating who gets what
But the toughest part of the charities' job has been coming up with an easy system and fair guidelines to divvy up the money. It hasn't been perfect.
| Sources: Department of Justice, Red Cross and Sept. 11th fund |
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"The system for the most part went very smoothly, but there is the reality of people saying, 'I got that and you got this,' " said Nicole Elkon, a spokeswoman for United Services Group.
All of the charities said they did their best to assess financial need, using whatever paperwork the families could produce to make their case. Zepeda, of the Red Cross, said caseworkers took applications that were then reviewed by a committee of Red Cross staff.
| * Includes cash and programs | | Sources: FEMA, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities |
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Still, the government's compensation fund is already taking heat for the charts and formulas it uses to determine the payout. Simplified, the equations use age and income to figure out how much a victim's dependents could have expected from him or her in the coming years. In addition, the government subtracts pensions, life insurance and other sources of money.
Many families are upset by the government's calculations. "To make it simple they should give everybody a flat $1 million tax-free," said Nicholas Mario Chiarchiaro Sr., whose wife Dorothy, a part time employee at Alger Funds, died at the World Trade Center. "Why should one person be penalized if he took out life insurance?"
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