OTTAWA — Canadians have flooded the United Nations children's agency with an outpouring of cash in the week since the image of a dead Syrian boy on a Turkish beach shocked the world.
And the Canadian head of UNICEF said a pair of private donors has offered to partly match future donations, which could drive up the contributions even further.
UNICEF said Canadians gave $60,000 to its Syria Emergency Response fund between January and the end of August. But it has collected almost three times that — $175,000 — in just the first 10 days of September.
The spike is due to the impact of a Sept. 2 image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi lying face down on a Turkish beach after his family's unsuccessful attempt to flee to Greece, said David Morley, president of UNICEF Canada.
Morley said UNICEF did not make any changes to its fundraising strategy in the last week because it didn't want to be seen as exploiting the Kurdi tragedy.
As they made their contributions, many donors also asked about what more they could do, said Morley.
"People are also asking us: 'how do we sponsor people? What can we do?'" he said.
That's not UNICEF's mandate, so the organization has been directing people to refugee organizations.
Morley said his organization is also ramping up its appeal for emergency funding to help Syrian children in the mass exodus to Europe.
"We didn't want to take advantage of that photograph, but we have a moral responsibility as UNICEF — if we're galvanized by this, we have to move on it."
The photo has also encouraged two private donors to pledge matching funds on future donations.
Maple Leaf Foods will match all new donations up to a ceiling of $25,000, starting Friday. And one well-heeled individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, has made the same $25,000 matching offer, said Morley.
Dave Bauer, a Maple Leaf spokesman, said the company has been working with UNICEF since the 2011 food crisis in the Horn of Africa.
The company matched $100,000 in donations in that case and has repeated the initiative in six subsequent emergencies, which saw the company provide an additional $200,000 in matching funds.
"Clearly the crisis in the country (Syria), as well as the mass migration out of the country, is causing significant food-security issues," Bauer said. "UNICEF has tremendous on-the-ground strength in providing critical aid and food relief."
Morley said the broader refugee crisis gripping Europe has been compounded by the fact that many aid agencies are set up to work in the southern hemisphere. UNICEF, though, has a strong footprint in Europe, dating back to the agency's creation to deal with the fallout of the Second World War across the continent.
The Humanitarian Coalition, an alliance of five Canadian aid agencies, has said it raised $200,000 for refugee relief in the week since Kurdi's photo emerged, also without making special efforts.
At Save The Children Canada, one of the coalition's members, senior policy adviser Cicely McWilliam said her organization has noticed a significant increase in donations in the last week. She said policy prohibits her from giving specific numbers.
McWilliam said the devastating image of Alan Kurdi, as well as those of refugee families plodding through Europe has had an impact on donors in Canada.
"Of course it's going to galvanize attention and refocus Canadian eyes on what is happening there — as it should," she said.
Morley said he's heartened that Canadians are turning their attention to the Syrian crisis, but admits that it has been a frustrating haul to raise awareness about a situation that has been deteriorating since 2011.
He recalled how two years ago, a UNICEF event in Toronto to raise awareness around the fact the one millionth refugee child had fled Syria was upstaged.
He said he was "pre-empted by an arm wrestle between Rob Ford and Hulk Hogan. That became the headline that day."
