Tsunami appears to be the new buzzword in the nonprofit world.

Everywhere you turn, you can contribute a dollar here or donate a soda can there to aid in relief efforts half a world away for the millions in Asia hit by the tsunami disaster in December.

But local charities are using tsunami relief efforts as a way to remind people about giving all year long.

"The same devastation happens in Cayuga County when someone has calamity in their household," said Susan Marteney, executive director of the Cayuga County Red Cross chapter.

Nationwide, more than $600 million has been raised by nonprofits for the tsunami victims, which almost doubles the $350 million contribution from the United States government.

Donation efforts have been so successful, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has stopped soliciting funds for tsunami efforts, saying the $1.2 billion pledged worldwide is sufficient to meet the costs of the entire Red Cross tsunami relief effort.

Cayuga County residents have been doing their part as well. The Cayuga County Chapter of the American Red Cross alone has collected about $30,000, Marteney said.

The local response was almost immediate, and donations from individuals came in denominations varying from $5 to $500.

"They're obviously all touched," she said. "$5 is someone being moved as much as $500."

Marteney writes a thank you note for each of those donations, but urges people to think local as well.

"I ask them to remember people in Cayuga County who are impacted by donations on a daily basis," she said.

It's too soon to tell whether the onslaught of donations not-for-profits are receiving for tsunami relief will effect total donations to charities with a local focus. But Community Caring Center suspended some of its food giveaways until April, citing slower local donations since Sept. 11.

Rev. Robert Canino, senior pastor at First Love Ministries, expects the situation to get even worse because people are redirecting their giving after the tsunami.

"Tsunami relief effort is something that's needed. People who don't normally give are being touched by charity. Maybe after that, they will begin to look locally," he said.

First Love underwrites major costs at three ministries operating under its roof: a soup kitchen, Community Caring, and First Love Food Pantry. With overall donations at the church going down and federal grants being cut, the situation looks grim.

"We've got a good, giving congregation, but there's not a lot of us," Canino said.

"What this did for a lot of people was give them a more global picture of relief efforts."

On the national level, though, there is little concern for a lasting negative effect.

"Even when there is such a huge outpouring, it's still in the grand scheme of things a small part of what has been donated overall," said Michael Solomon, spokesman for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the leading newspaper of the nonprofit sector.

Part of the reason tsunami donations have surpassed many people's expectations was the extension of the deadline for donations to count toward 2004 tax returns.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, which many nonprofit directors point to as the last large-scale donation effort - about $2.3 billion was raised overall for relief efforts. But that was less than 1 percent of total giving to all causes that year, Solomon said.

"The vast amount of giving we do every day doesn't get enough attention," he said.

The Rev. Michael Bell from Thompson Memorial AME Zion Church hoped to raise awareness for those everyday charitable works through a service for tsunami relief he organized about a week after the tragedy happened.

"The squeaky wheel gets attention, and the squeakiest wheel is the tsunami," Bell said.

"It's almost a sin if you didn't do anything."

But more importantly than tsunami relief, Bell hoped the service would educate people on how they can help locally though charities like the American Red Cross.

"If we've got them on the hook for the tsunami, it gives us a chance to let people know what else is out there," he said.

Bell believes it's harder to generate the same kind of attention for local causes because the problems aren't as visual as what happened in Asia. Everyday suffering doesn't get the same kind of attention, and people are becoming desensitized to local problems.

"Maybe donations would be better placed if we explain these things," he said. "If a few times a year we can do that together, we can reshape people's minds."

For several local charities, donations diverted to tsunami victims did not hurt their normal fund-raising.

For some, it may have been a question of timing. The American Red Cross doesn't take on its major fund-raising effort until March. The United Way of Cayuga County's major drive ended Dec. 9 - only a few weeks before the international disaster.

But even if the timing of the tsunami had been different, Chris Buscher, president of the United Way of Cayuga County, thinks people still would have found a way to meet their charitable obligations.

"People are usually willing to give over and beyond when there is a national or international disaster," Buscher said. "If there were one more significant disaster, then we may be at a point where people would be limited."

Staff writer Liz Hacken can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267

or elizabeth.hacken@lee.net