Choosing organizations to donate to after the Haiti earthquake

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Comments

[Hannah]

This is Hannah Bevills, I am an editor with Hospital.com. We are a medical publication whose focus is geared towards promoting awareness on hospitals, including information, news, and reviews on them. Given the relevance of what you are offering from your site and what our mission is, I feel we may be able to collaborate in some way or another, I look forward to your response regarding the matter. Thanks!

Hannah Bevills
[email protected]
Hospital.com

[Jappe]

Here in Sweden there has been a lot in the newspapers lately regarding former Swedish Red Cross communications chief Johan af Donner, who confessed to swindling the aid organisation and the Swedish Cancer Fund out of millions:

http://www.thelocal.se/26340/20100428/

[Karen Mullins]

I agree there is a problem with people wanting to give goods instead of money. I have worked for the Red Cross for 20 years and I have seen many good intentions gone wrong. For instance a donation of soda on a food drive for the hungry, mismatched shoes, clothes with no buttons, overcoats donated to tropical climate disasters. It goes on and on. When a disaster hits, the Red Cross is on the ground with funds withing 24 hours of the disaster if not sooner. They assess the situation and purchase what is needed for that particular disaster from the local areas saving shipping and distribution costs. Also ususally they will give vouchers for clothing so that the victims can start to reclaim their lives by getting their own clothes that fit-again from the local merchants.

Lets all stop and think things through instead of reacting foolishly.

Karen

[jean jeudy]

Haiti needs international partnership to help with the rebuilding process. no job can be done with Haitians alone, or the international community alone. a common effort is needed for the swift reconstruction of Haiti

[Peter Dustrud]

Just a suggestion about getting food out: instead of just bombarding everyone with c-rations off of airplanes....why not take donated cash directly to the farmers who are now selling food to the people at high prices and(if this is not being done already) bargain with them; pay them directly (a fair and reasonable but competitive price) then take that food and give it no charge to the people -women and children first- who are hungry. This helps all aspects of the local economy.

[Saundra]

Matthew,

The UN has a general fund that it uses to distribute as needed. I think it's a great idea, here's the link http://ochaonline.un.org/DonateNow/HowtoDonate/tabid/1819/language/en-US/Default.aspx

[Matthew rosencrans]

Are there any organizations who's chief mission is to investigate and distribute moneys to other organizations. If there are would prefer to just earmark money for the Haiti relief.

[dawnling]

Thankyou! Haiti is getting swamped with donations of infant formula that will still be killing babies in 6 months time- tragic!

[Andrea LaBeck]

Excellent advice, can't agree more. One day when you have time check out the new product that the Red Cross Chapters are using. It was developed to help curb the "Second Disaster" - www.outfittogo.org On the Did You Know page are alot of stats on exactly what happens to the donated clothes here in the US after a disaster. Maybe one day it will catch on and the public will know that clothes are already provided by agencies and they will stop collecting during these times.

[mike]

It may be best to stick to the ones you know such as the Red Cross or Christian aid to avoid scams.

[Dwight Hatcher]

For the conscientious donor, perhaps the bet source of data to evaluate a non-profit can be found in the 990s they are required to file with the IRS. Sadly, the form which appears to be standard IRS is often twisted and turned by individual charities - some to obscure the truth; others who lack competent accounting. I often check the executive, board, or director compensation or the highest compensated outside vendors. It takes an auditor's eye, but it's well worth the effort to get a clear picture of how the non-profit operates. As always, the truth lies somewhere in the numbers - forget the posed pictures and sappy tales. You are getting ready to invest your money. Do it right and make a difference. Many charities jump on causes like Haiti and hope that you will reflexively give without examining their standards and practices. Deep breath, do some homework, and then make your gift.

[Phil Henshaw]

I'd like more information on the ways aid, both short term and long term, disrupts local cultures and their sustainability, and to discuss that. In Haiti over the past 20 years, as in Mexico, there seems to have been economic development that resulted in floods of population to cities and collapses of traditional village cultures with major societal impacts.

I'm a natural systems scientist. Cultural systems have their local infrastructure and technologies that deveop as a network of parts designed to work together. How the are pushed to adapt to change can be disruptive. That applies to indigenous communities or advanced societies alike, as the advanced societies seem to be experiencing now as well.

Any links or contacts would be welcome. My contact and other work are at www.synapse9.com Phil

[Gayle]

I've been affiliated with the American Red Cross for 17 years and worked on disaster relief assignments. Folks who are moved to volunteer are well intentioned, but sending untrained people into a hardship situation like the one in Haiti just adds to the problem. Frequently the volunteer ends up so traumatized or ineffective that they need to be sent home, which costs the organization money that could have gone to relief. In addition, the poor well-meaning person is unlikely to ever volunteer again due to having a bad experience.

It's also a sad fact of life that many organizations must background check people, especially those who will work with children or have access to goods or funds.

If you are moved to help, let that impulse guide you to get Red Cross training to work closer to home in your own community. House fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires and earthquakes cause plenty of destruction right here in the U.S. There is ALWAYS a need for help.

And please, please, PLEASE do NOT donate "stuff." It's a nightmare. Your stuff costs money to transport, takes time to sort, need to be stored, and ends up costing the organization more money than if it was purchased new. Another benefit of buying goods in bulk is that it helps restore a shattered local economy.

I've always suggested that people have a garage sale and let your buyers know all the money will be donated to a cause. Many will gladly buy and even help kick in a few extra dollars. Then you make the donation and everyone wins.

And despite working with the Red Cross, I heartily endorse donating funds for Haiti to the Salvation Army. The job of the Red Cross is immediately emergency relief and they're doing well in fundraising. This relief effort will be long and arduous. The Salvation Army has a well established presence, is efficient and reliable.

[Saundra]

Richard,

I agree that donors should always do due diligence before giving and have blogged about it often. Unfortunately, there are many problems with rating systems based upon the percent spent on administration costs. These rating systems do not indicate whether the organization follows best practices, has a real impact, or is professional in their work. In general the percent spent on administration costs is a fairly meaningless indicator and causes lots of problems in the field. This is why I don't recommend to my readers that they use sites such as the ones you suggested. For more on this see my post http://informationincontext.typepad.com/good_intentions_are_not_e/2009/05/emphasis-placed-on-the-percent-charities-spend-on-administration-can-actually-lead-to-increased-wast.html
Instead I'd suggest looking at the organizations recommended in the aid worker posts that I have linked to in section #3. Also read my post The DOs and DON'Ts of Disaster Donations for more info on choosing charities http://informationincontext.typepad.com/good_intentions_are_not_e/2010/01/the-dos-and-donts-of-disaster-donations.html

[MSinDOD]

I playing a role in Haiti disaster relief. Picked up a lesson learned from some of our people with disaster relief experience: techies try to help by building apps that have been built before (people finder, etc....). This complicates things in the same way that showing up uninvited with food does: it randomizes effort and actually makes it harder to find people because you don't know which of the hundreds of people finder apps someone may be listed in. Best to use 1 central app. The Red Cross' people finder app has been recognized as excellent.

[Richard McDonough]

Give to NO ORGANIZATION until you have done due diligence, which should include looking at their record at http://www.charitynavigator.org/
Very professional and reliable.

[Mark Abels]

Disclaimer: I am a member of the National Advisory Board of The Salvation Army.

The Army has a long history in Haiti and before the earthquake already had ~ 700 staff on the ground running dozens of schools, clinics, children's home, etc. The Army is now mobilizing airlift of millions of meals and has staff on the ground to distribute. Money is the big need, and you can contribute confidfently to this organization. Contribute to the Salvation Army World Service at www.sawso.org. Thank you

[Eva]

Concern Worldwide have been in Haiti since 1994

working in health, hiv&aids, education, emergency relief after hurricanes, peace building

for USA go to www.concernusa.org
for Ireland/UK/rest of world go to www.concern.net

[jan]

Partners In Health
http://www.pih.org/home.html
is UNIQUELY positioned to aid in Haiti right now. They have been there for 20 years, Here is a note from their director Ophelia Dahl
http://www.pih.org/home.html
this morning, the PIH/Zanmi Lasante team was designated by the World Health Organization to serve as the coordinators of the public hospital, Hopital de l' Universite d'Etat d'Haiti (HUEH), where thousands are suffering in need of medicines and surgeries. In this new role, we will be supporting the administration and staff and recruiting other NGOs to help restore services, particularly triage, nursing, and surgical, at the city's central hospital.

[Susan Gary]

Konbit Pou Ayiti (www.Konpay.org) is an organization operating in Haiti and should be added to a list of organizations for donations. A former student of mine works for Konpay and has been writing a blog about her experiences in Port-au-Prince. The blog is at rightsbasedhaiti.wordpress.com. The blog posts are worth reading - harrowing and inspiring.