B
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●○ medium
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q3Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q3BHistory grows each quarter
ShelterBox: A box that holds a home for a family that has lost one. The letter is B; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q3; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
In 2000, the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard in Cornwall asked its members for a project to mark the Millennium. The one who stepped forward was Tom Henderson, a former Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver. Watching disaster coverage, he had been troubled by how people were left with nothing at all. His idea was to pack a disaster relief kit for one family into a box that could be shipped anywhere in the world at short notice. The initial hope was to help eight to ten families a year.
The box held a family tent, sleeping bags, water purification tablets, a trenching tool and cooking pots. The first 143 boxes reached survivors of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India. ShelterBox became a registered charity in 2003, with trustees drawn from the Helston-Lizard Rotary Club.
Since then the contents have become configurable to local climate and culture, and the choice is no longer only a tent — it can be a set of materials or a cash grant. By 2024, the number of people supported since 2000 passed three million. In 2026 it has responded to earthquakes in eastern Afghanistan, typhoons and an earthquake in the Philippines, and floods in Nepal.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
In 2016 Cyclone Winston struck Fiji. In Tokou on the badly damaged island of Ovalau lived Diane and her baby Yokimi. Their home was destroyed and all their possessions lost. The family spent six weeks in the community centre. Then a ShelterBox arrived. The tent became their home for the stretch before they could begin rebuilding. With it came cooking utensils, solar lights and a water filter — the tools for getting back to ordinary life.
Source nature: ShelterBox / P5 programme-official. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- Supported more than three million people who lost their homes to disaster since its founding in 2000 (as of its 25th anniversary)P5 own tally / ShelterBox
- Responded in 2026 to earthquakes in eastern Afghanistan, typhoons and an earthquake in the Philippines, and floods in NepalP5 programme-official / ShelterBox
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- Independent follow-up evaluation of housing situations after assistance
- degree of funding dependence on Rotary
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Devolving authority to local partners and dispersing pre-positioned stock, in anticipation of more climate-driven disasters.
A second look
The cumulative figure of three million people is ShelterBox's own tally; there is limited public evaluation of what exactly reached each person, or of third-party tracking of housing outcomes afterwards. Emergency shelter is by nature a temporary answer, and the transition to permanent housing is left to others. Rotary's backing is a strength in funding and local networks, but from the standpoint of evaluative independence that closeness can itself be questioned.
Sources
+N1ShelterBox｜Relief from Cyclone Winston in Fiji – Diane and Yokimi's story｜2016｜🔗 + effectShelterBox｜ShelterBox supports over three million people as it turns 25｜2025｜🔗 + effectShelterBox｜Good News from ShelterBox: July 2026 Highlights｜2026-07｜🔗
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q3 | Back to top