Best organizations to donate to for Haiti relief efforts?

[sl8]

I know that I've seen references recently in various threads regarding worthy organizations to which to donate. I also seem to recall one post with a link to a site that evaluates charitable organizations.

Unfortunately, my search skills leave a little to be desired and I'm not finding many of the relevant posts. Can someone help me out? Which organizations do you think will make the best use of my money?

Perhaps some other lurkers in are the same quandary.

Thanks in advance.

[QC]

1. Episcopal Relief and Development is a good one.

They do not proselytize, and they provide both assistance with the immediate situation (relief) and long term projects in health, education, agriculture, and other fields (development).

They have been active for many years in Haiti, home of the Episcopal Church's largest diocese.

http://er-d.org

[Faygo Kid]

2. AARP Foundation is doubling your donation. You don't have to be a member. Good choice.

Any and all comers, any age, don't have to be a member, just want to donate. Matches up to $500,000, and they are so under the radar that I don't think they are anywhere near that yet. AARP is a mixed bag on DU, I know, but double your cash to the people of Haiti goes beyond any other considerations. I have posted this before. I shall do so again, so long as the match remains in place: http://www.aarp.org/about_aarp/aarp_foundation/

[babydollhead]

3. Inter Action Website

[uppityperson]

4. MSF (doctors without borders) and International Red Cross are 2

MSF was already in Haiti with medical centers set up, are doing a lot there. International Red Cross does a good job at turning over a large % of their money to the recipients.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
http://www.icrc.org/

[gateley]

5. Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health.

www.doctorswithoutborders.org

www.pih.org

Look them over, see if one resonates with you. Both these are exceptional, honest charities that use your donation how YOU want it used.

[pnorman]

6. Here's probably all you need to know about the American Red Cross:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0925-28.htm However, I don't think they'll DARE pull any "funny stuff" with Haiti relief. So that suggestion about donating directly from your cell phone is probably quite safe.

My own choice is "Doctors Without Borders: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

[RC]

8. There is a huge difference between the American Red Cross and the International Red Cross.

The American Red Cross is, to put it nicely, not as a efficient at handling money as the International Red Cross. Somehow I'm not surprised.

[pnorman]

15. Probably most here are aware of that.

But as I said earlier, it'll no doubt be "safe", particularly since the ARC is listed on the White House webpage/

BTW{ Here's the "Doctors Without Borders" breakdown: I doubt that the ARC can match that, or most others for that matter! Certainly NOT Pat Robertson's outfit!

[BolivarianHero]

19. Robertson's outfit...

50% to Pat
25% to Baby Doc
255 to preaching and KJV Bibles.

[City Lights]

7. We donated to Doctors Without Borders.

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

Charity Navigator gave them 4 stars.

[noamnety]

9. Doctors without borders, any group that was already on the ground, no cell phone donations.

Personally, I picked doctors without borders. You can text a donation to them same as red cross. (("DOB" to "90999" to give $5.))

If you don't like them, the next thing I'd look for is an organization that was already on the ground prior to the quake, that already has an infrastructure in the area and local contacts, knows the culture, etc. They can run more efficiently than do gooders who move in without local knowledge (excluding people trained in disaster work, like the rescue dog folks, I'm not knocking them.)

Finally: I opted not to text a donation for a few reasons (size of donation, and more importantly there is talk that it may take up to 90 days to process and release funds given in that way.

A check is slightly slower than a credit card. I was considering a check to avoid banks skimming a 3% profit from my donation, but then I saw that American Express and VISA have waived their merchant fees for donations to Haiti. I'm not sure if Mastercard has opted to do the same yet.

[DailyGrind51]

10. Catholic Relief Services is another!

My parish is holding second collections at all its masses for Haitian Relief. http://crs.org/

Despite what Pat Robertson says, Haiti is a predominantly Catholic country. If anyone made a deal with the Devil, it was Robertson when he went into partnership with Charles "The Butcher of Liberia" Taylor.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A7124-2001Sep21

"What's more, to hear Robertson tell it, one of the abominations prompting God to hide his face from America is this country's self-indulgence, pursuit of financial gain and focus on wealth.

Which is the subject of today's column, and the basis for this humble question: What, pray tell, does the Good Lord make of Pat Robertson's gold-mining venture in Liberia with Charles Taylor, international pariah and one of the most ruthless, greedy and terror-producing heads of state in all of sub-Saharan Africa?

What? He didn't know?

Well it probably slipped Robertson's mind, busy as he is in getting people to send in those checks, money orders and love offerings to support his cause. How the reverend found time to hook up with Taylor, I'll never know.

But in May 1999, Robertson, through Freedom Gold Limited, an offshore company registered in the Cayman Islands but based at CBN headquarters in Virginia Beach, signed an agreement with Taylor and key cabinet members allowing the for-profit Freedom Gold to explore and receive mining rights in southeastern Liberia, where gold is believed to be in the ground.

It's a great deal for Liberia, which is now an economic basket case thanks to the long civil war and Taylor's corruption. It's also good for Freedom Gold, which was formed by Robertson in 1998. Liberia -- and for all practical purposes we're talking Taylor -- gains 10 percent ownership of Freedom Gold.

As The Post's Douglas Farah reported in January, huge amounts of the country's funds have been siphoned off by a small group of Taylor's associates and relatives. Taylor "has his hand in everything and gets a cut of everything," a businessman told The Post. Other Liberians, probably Taylor's gang, are entitled to buy at least 15 percent of Freedom Gold's shares after the exploration period.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Joe Mathews, Freedom Gold's vice president for finance and administration ("actually I'm acting as managing director," he confided), said the company is currently in the exploration stage but "there is little activity at the moment because it's monsoon season."

He said gold has been found, but whether it is a viable venture has not been determined. Mathews confirmed reports that Freedom Gold is committed to spend $15 million during the exploration phase, but he said it has yet to spend anything close to that amount. The deal with Liberia gives Freedom Gold exploration rights for five years, and an additional "20 years to mine it," Mathews said. Liberia is currently collecting exploration and rental fees from Freedom Gold; the government also will pocket royalties and rental fees once production gets underway..."

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. We donated to Partners in Health. My daughter is involved in non profits and Peace Corps,

has done a lot of research - and this is what her analysis led us to.

[stray cat]

12. Partners in Health - 94% goes to program activities and medicine -Haitian community based

Doctors without borders - both are great organizations with years of working in Haiti

[Hekate]

13. Direct Relief International sends medical supplies & has a 99% efficiency rating per Forbes

www.directrelief.org/

[pennylane100]

14. I will be donating to Oxfam

as soon as my monthly check gets here.

[sl8]

16. List so far:

I'm going offline for the night.

Thanks to QC, Faygo Kid, babydollhead , uppityperson, gateley, pnorman , RC, City Lights, noamnety , DailyGrind51, NRaleighLiberal, stray cat, Hekate and pennylane100 for their responses.

I've made my donation for today, but please don't let that keep you from adding your 2 cents. I expect that I'll be making another donation later this week and, of course, many other DUers will be doing the same.

List so far:

AARP Foundation
http://www.aarp.org/makeadifference/

American Red Cross *
http://www.redcross.org/
* see posts from pnorman and RC

Catholic Relef Services
http://crs.org /

Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund *
http://clintonbushhaitifund.org/
*I threw this one in because I've been seeing it in the news. I haven't researched it.

Direct Relief International
http://www.directrelief.org/

Doctors without Borders
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

Episcopal Relief and Development
https://www.er-d.org/donate-select.php

International Red Cross
http://www.icrc.org/

Oxfam International
http://www.oxfam.org/

Partners in Health
https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/donate



Also,

Charity Navigator
http://www.charitynavigator.org/

InterAction
http://www.interaction.org/

[marybourg]

17. International Rescue Committee. nt.

[CreekDog]

20. After my $10 text message, I donated directly to IRC too

they were listed on Consumerist's blog.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

18. Americares

http://www.americares.org/

99.01% of donations go to program service, not overhead