Haiti – How to Give Safely

Wow.

I was excited about this post from Ms. Grant until I read “The safest way to give would be to donate to one of the larger established charites such as the Red Cross.” This could be farther from the truth. While I understand it is easier to give to a group with an existing infrastructure, it seems like the public has amnesia about Red Cross’s gross mismanagement of funds for Katrina. If you think the millions of … (and I mean millions) of dollars given to Red Cross for Katrina is CURRENTLY going towards the people of New Orleans…or rebuilding efforts… You are sadly mistaken. The safest bet is to support organizations that have already had a presence in Haiti and will be there long-term (after the media blitz is over).

After Katrina, Red Cross was scrutinized heavily, so much to the result of the Chair resigning because of financial malfeasance. I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve been to Haiti several times and I sit on a non-profit that builds schools there. I will tell you the organizations that have been there consistently: Yele, Partners in Health, Doctors without Borders, and a boatload of religious missionary groups. I chose to donate to Partners in Health and Doctors without Borders because that is what is needed right now. Red Cross will receive PLENTY of money from the international community. But if you want to make sure your money is utilized for the people of Haiti long after the news is gone, I recommend looking at the groups/categories above.
.-= Political Pete´s last blog ..Maxwell – The World Stops for Me =-.