Haiti Disaster: What's the best way to donate?

I donated via Doctors Without Borders.

Haiti: MSF Treats 2,000 Patients; Working to Expand Surgical Capacity (1/15/10) | Doctors Without Borders

Haiti: Logistics of MSF?s Intervention (1/15/10) | Doctors Without Borders

Here's the donation page:

https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=197&hbc=1?ref=main-menu

This is an excellent organization and they're working hard to get their medical services re-established in Port-au-Prince.

 

If in doubt, a donation to the Red Cross can't go wrong.

The Haitian people and thier suffering is beyond what most of us will ever see/experience in our lives.

This is truly a very sad and disturbing situation.

 

The Red Cross has one of the worst records of any aid agency. They go for the publicity and then pull out. They raise money for one area and spend it on another. Their administrative expenses are outrageous. They are without a doubt the worst choice for your donation.

Doctors Without Borders is good. Oxfam is good. The American Friends Service Committee is good. Any of those will make good use of your money. I'm sure there are others.

I seldom if ever give disaster-specific or earmarked donations. I select a few organizations that I feel are good, and I give them the amount I've decided to give, and let them use the money where they feel they most need it. There are disasters every day. One or two a year make the news and get the big donations. By giving regularly but never earmarked for the publicized disasters, organizations I trust can use my money to help the people who didn't make it into the news, but who are suffering just as much as those who did. Homelessness in America is an ongoing disaster right under our noses.

 

Relief for Haiti - Artists for Peace and Justice
100% of the money goes to Haiti. There is NO overhead! Because the banks have collapsed, the money raised is being hand delivered by volunteers.

 

Probably, the best thing to follow links that reliable news organizations have posted. Worse thing would be to click a link from an email that you get.

 

Should you mistrust your charity or the receiving Government, I have a suggestion. Send supplies, not cash.

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/health-kit/

is an example that will be easy to donate, but hard to divert to personal gain.

Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator | Home is a watchdog for US charities. (Due to varying tax law internationally, they only grade US charities)

 

Every organization is saying don't send supplies. They need money. They can buy a lot more food and supplies much cheaper at neighboring islands/countries.

 

So when person A says 'I don't trust them not to divert my money.' I say 'You can still give supplies.' And you say 'Don't Bother, they only want your money'. Looks to me like Person A can either do nothing, or ignore you.

The plea for supplies was on UMCOR's home page, it is a 2 inch by 3 inch button on the right. They do NOT seem to be discouraging donating supplies. Yes, money is faster, but the need for supplies will go on for months.

 

Here's an excellent list of organizations helping and what they're doing.

 

Or do your research and give to an organization with a track record of getting the aid to the people that need it without involving corrupt local officials or spending an excessive amount on administrative costs.

Or do your research and give regularly without waiting for disasters. That way organizations are prepared and can move in immediately when there's a need, whether that need makes it onto the "disaster" news or not, and also have the funding for long-term development projects.

 

maybe its best if someone ( maybe i can do this ) opens a paypall account where al the donated money from that account is booking directly to accounts from people living there.
No big organisations where mananger have a big salary and bonus working for a humantary organisation. ( i mean can you life with your self getting more then 100.000 a year from donations people make and for people in need? ) and the money go's directly to the people there.

 

It amazes me how someone would slam an organization that has provided more than 120 years of service providing services for mankind.


American Red Cross: Use of funds on programs= 90%
Administrative expense 6% of funds CEO Salary = $47,000.00

American Friends Service Committee: Use of funds on programs= 83%
Administrative expense 8% of funds CEO Salary = $198,288.00

Oxfam: Use of funds on programs= 80%
Administrative expense 6% of funds CEO Salary = $308,250.00

Doctors Without Borders: Use of funds on programs= 86%
Administrative expense 2% of funds CEO Salary = $149,000.00
Note: “Doctors Without Borders USA (DWB) does not meet the following 2 Standards for Charity Accountability.â€

Standard 4: Compensated Board Members - Not more than one or 10% (whichever is greater) directly or indirectly compensated person(s) serving as voting member(s) of the board. Compensated members shall not serve as the board's chair or treasurer.
DWB does not meet this Standard because:
· The chair of the board is directly compensated as a paid staff member.
Standard 19: Cause Related Marketing - Clearly disclose how the charity benefits from the sale of products or services (i.e., cause-related marketing) that state or imply that a charity will benefit from a consumer sale or transaction. Such promotions should disclose, at the point of solicitation: (a) the actual or anticipated portion of the purchase price that will benefit the charity (e.g., 5 cents will be contributed to abc charity for every xyz company product sold), (b) the duration of the campaign (e.g., the month of October), (c) any maximum or guaranteed minimum contribution amount (e.g., up to a maximum of $200,000).
DWB does not meet this Standard because, in the past year the organization participated in a promotion for the sale of consumer goods (music album) that indicates that the organization will benefit from these purchases. The promotion, however, did not specify:
The actual or anticipated amount of the purchase price that will benefit the organization.

Feel free to do your own research before donating:


http://www.bbb.org/us/Charity-Reviews/

 

I've always been a fan of Medical teams northwest ( admittedly I have not done my research.. no clue what their grade is) but just yesterday heard mention of a different kind of long term medical group. One that works to train and educate LOCAL residents of developing countries to perform these roles. I'm sure they aren't a disaster specific charity but would love to learn more about supporting their efforts.

HealthRight International

Not sure if this is the group mentioned to me but they look interesting.

Back to the specific topic:

You can actually use your texting service to "zap" money directly to the cause.

Mobile texting donations to Red Cross for Haiti now tops $8 million -

They have made giving money as easy as sending a text.

 

looking at post 14
its clear only the red cross ( if these figures are correct ) uses the most money and less for personal.
with the others you can clearly see its only to fill there own pockets

paypal : [email protected]

 

There are several groups that rate charities in the US. (Due to wildly differing tax laws, it is hard to compare charities accoss tax borders)

Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator | Home
http://www.charitywatch.org/
Check Out a Business or Charity - U.S. BBB

Using the BBB info:
UMCOR: Use of funds on programs= 95%
Administrative expense 4% of funds CEO Salary = $161,548 (he is deceased in Haiti)

(I am not a Methodist, I was looking for a group that stresses recovery, not relief)

 

maybe its better to present some info about international charities?
is the ceo killed in haiti??

 

I'm skeptical of the numbers in that post.

 

My intent for posting (post #14) the numbers was not to slam the other organizations that were listed.

Frankly I don't believe any of them (listed) are really just filling thier pockets. I just felt that it was unfair that a previous post made remarks that were not true.

And by the way the numbers I quoted were obtained from the BBB link shown.