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How to Help Haiti
Jorge Cruz / AP Photo
We identified the most effective NGOs working to address the crisis—here’s how to donate now. Plus: What happens to charity when the cameras leave a disaster zone?
• The Red Cross: You can give $10 to the Red Cross’s International Response Fund by texting HAITI to 90999. 100 percent of your donation benefits the Red Cross, and you can print a receipt through mGive, a foundation that helps non-profits take advantage of mobile technology.
• UNICEF, the United Nations Fund focusing on children, has worked on the ground in Haiti since 1949, so has the expertise to make a difference. You can donate here.
• Doctors Without Borders is also present in-country. One senior staff member reports, “The situation is chaotic. I visited five medical centers, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning.” Donate to support public health efforts here.
• MADRE, the international women’s rights NGO, partners with the Zanmi Lasante Clinic, founded by Partners in Health, on the ground in Haiti. “The most urgent needs right now are bandages, broad-spectrum antibiotics and other medical supplies, as well as water tablets to prevent cholera outbreaks,” MADRE reports. Donate here.
• Action Against Hunger has had a team in Haiti since 1985, and is ready to fly planeloads of emergency supplies from Paris to Port-au-Prince. Food is one necessity, but so is sanitation; in some Haitian towns, 70 percent of homes do not have plumbing. Donate here.
• Mercy Corps has a history of deploying aid to regions affected by catastrophic earthquakes, such as Peru in 2007, China and Pakistan in 2008, and Indonesia last year. They are deploying a team to Haiti, and you can support their efforts here.
• Partners in Health is the NGO founded in Haiti in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, the celebrated physician and anthropologist who focuses on international social justice. The group’s emergency response focuses on delivering medical supplies and staff. Louise Ivers, PIH’s clinical director in the country, sent the message, “Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS.” Donate here.
• The United Nations Foundation Central Emergency Response Fund will support relief efforts in Haiti, but also in diaster regions across the globe, including those receiving far less media attention. Donate here.
• The International Rescue Committee, which in the past has resettled Haitian refugees in the United States, is deploying an Emergency Response Team to assist overwhelmed local aid groups. It will focus on critical medical, water, and sanitation assistance. Donate here.
Click Below to View Our Gallery of Relief Efforts in Haiti
Plus: Mark Leon Goldberg on Haiti’s crisis and view photos.
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AdjoaSankofia
Partners in Health is another org you should add to the list. http://pih.org
djanimaequeen
Also, texting 'Yele' to 501501 donates $5 dollars to the Haiti Earthquake fund started by Haiti's own Wyclef Jean. The amount is charged to your cell phone bill.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
WiltonDiary
Why do you hate America and the military?
foochy
Please add the Schweitzer Hospital!! The Albert Schweitzer Hospital (L'Hopital Albert Schweitzer) in Deschapelles is in desperate need of donations as well -- they are located just outside of the quake zone, but are obviously receiving additional patients as some medical establishments in the zone are damaged:
http://www.hashaiti.org/D1_w49.htm
kml2006
The Daily Beast and most other media sites ignore what is perhaps the most effective and efficient NGO -- Catholic Relief Services. As someone above pointed out, the ICRC and the American Red Cross allocate less than half of their budgets to programs. By contrast, 93% of CRS' budget goes straight to overseas programming.
mel389159
I'm sorry, but this is patently incorrect--the Inetrnational Rescue Committee is a wonderful and highly effective charity which dedicates 90% of its budget to its programs and services. Catholic Relief is also great, and people should donate wherever they see fit, but I think it's important to be clear that money donated to the IRC is money well spent.
collegestudent11112
I am a college student and have a spring break coming up in March. Will there be programs launched in which students with free time can take an alternative spring break and help the people of Haiti?
savvydaddy
Savvy Daddy and a group of anonymous dads are donating $1 to World Vision Haiti Relief for every new World Vision facebook fan in the next 24 hours. check 'em out at facebook.com/worldvision. They do great work and have been in Haiti for 30 years already.
Old-Hippy
Quote from the above story . . .
"You can give $10 to the Red Cross's International Response Fund by texting HAITI to 90999. 100 percent of your donation benefits the Red Cross"
I personally do NOT trust the Red Cross. . . . I don't want 100 % of my donation going to "benefit the red Cross" I want it to go to the people in Haiti, which is why I have donated to Doctors without Boarders.
Please give what you can . . . to whichever charity you chose
tflood1431
Look at Surgical Volunteers International. NO administration costs as we have no office , phones etc.
buenavista
If it matters to you, the Red Cross link does not allow you to specify your donation for Haiti Relief. Save the Children is another good organization that has been providing assistance in Haiti for years and is on the ground there now.
rshoover
Mercy and Sharing Foundation - founded by Susie Scott Krabacher, 100% of donations go to Haiti, no overhead, it's one of only a very few NGOs in Haiti that doesn't take it off the top.
www.haitichildren.com
Give what you can NOW time is critical!
tflood1431
if they have no overhead they have no office or employees?
edinsb
Direct Relief International is a great organization which sends medical supplies to disaster zones quickly and efficiently. Without these supplies the doctors and aid workers would have their hands tied. Great organization with ties to Haiti since 1964.
keekee77
I'm really surprised this site recommends the Red Cross. It makes me suspicious of the groups I don't recognize.
The Red Cross is about one step above a bunch of virus laden Christian Missionaries as far as I'm concerned. My father in law was a WWII vet and he HATED the Red Cross.
I personally don't want to pay for some administrator's over inflated salary thank you very much.
My money goes to Doctors Without Borders (wish they took paypal though).
j12345
My money goes to the the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) - could you please add them to your list? WFP is the largest UN agency coordinating the response to the Haiti earthquake. Its website is http://www.wfp.org and donations for the Haiti relief effort can be made at http://www.wfp.org/donate/haiti. Thank you!
Lisa-jan
International Medical Corps is a great organization with experience in delivering medical attention to those impacted by war, disease and natural disasters. They were on the ground, evaluating conditions and providing preliminary care within 23 hours of the quake. Could they be added to this list as well?
Check out www.imcworldwide.org Thanks!
dwerner
International Medical Corps is responding to the crisis in Haiti. Please donate at www.imcworldwide.org or text 'Haiti' to 85944 to make a $10 donation.
AronIB
In the MADRE note, you reference "Zanmi Lasante" clinic. Zanmi Lasante is Haitian Creole for "Partners In Health," and is the local name for PIH's operations. Without knowing anything about MADRE, donating directly to PIH is probably more effective than donating to MADRE. http://www.pih.org/where/Haiti/Haiti.html
Thank you.
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