With more than $220-million in donations so far in response to the Haitian earthquake, Tom Belford, a veteran fund raiser, poses a question on his blog The Agitator: “Can we call any of this fund raising?”

Donors are responding emotionally and spontaneously to what they see and hear in the news rather than after receiving an appeal, Mr. Belford writes. “All the various relief groups are doing is holding out the bucket for the donations to drop into.”

Fund raising, as Mr. Belford sees it, is different: It involves actively presenting a need or a cause to specific groups of people and persuading them that it corresponds to their interests.

Actual fund raising, he writes, will not occur until the American Red Cross and other relief organizations persuade those now giving millions of dollars in $10 cellphone increments to become repeat donors.

Fund raisers, he concludes, “will earn thanks when they manage to sustain the flow.”