Dana for Haiti

Can anyone recommend a Haiti charity for dealing with the aftermath of the quake? For me, the ideal charity would be one that focuses on reforestation, family planning education, and long term rebuilding of infrastructure, and uses a relatively small slice of the pie for administrative costs. A solid track record and transparency in accounting are also important.

Thanks,

Kenneth

"Can anyone recommend a Haiti charity for dealing with the aftermath of the quake? For me, the ideal charity would be one that focuses on reforestation, family planning education, and long term rebuilding of infrastructure, and uses a relatively small slice of the pie for administrative costs. A solid track record and transparency in accounting are also important.

Thanks,

Kenneth"

Partners in Health is run by Dr. Paul Farmer and has been in Haiti for over 20 years. As the name implies, they are focused in the health sector but they may be doing more to respond to this emergency. Very ethical, very cost effective. Check out their web site for responding to this emergency at www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti .

I worked for CARE International for 13 years (although never in Haiti). They have been in Haiti for many years and do multi-sectoral work of the type you are interested in. They do solid work and I would feel comfortable giving them my donation.

Hope this is helpful.

D.

www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=14279#more-14279

just saw this--

Thanks, D and Roomy, for these excellent resources. Another of our members, Andrew (Seekr), also recommended Partners In Health, and sent this as well:

Here's a review of other organizations that are working there/helping:
www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/1/23/829...r-Star-Organizations

Gratefully,

Kenneth

Important to mention is the website CharityNavigator.com. It's a database of charities and an analysis of their operating efficiency.

As Kenneth mentioned to me with a side comment, some charities take a larger piece of the pie in administrative and fundraising fees than others. Some celebrities set up charities to hire family members and pay them fulltime salaries for not doing much.

I don't want to be cynical, but in much the same way that we talk about Aitken-Shimano letters, we should be looking with a "wise" or discerning eye on the charitable organizations. We all want to help, and we need to be wise about how to go about doing it.

Here's an exemple of a profile of Partners in Health:
www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=s...h.summary&orgid=4884

Total Funcional Expenses: $50,587,109
Organizational Efficiency
Program Expenses 94.8%
Administrative Expenses 2.8%
Fundraising Expenses 2.3%
Fundraising Efficiency $0.02

This disaster has brought out feelings of compassion, let's channel them in efficient ways.

Andrew

Great stuff, Andrew. Thanks so much. Can't help but noticing that Partners in Health is extremely efficient compared to many charities.

Kenneth

Personally, I donated to the Haiti aid effort through Tzu Chi. The thing I like is that they try to treat aid recipients with respect and dignity.

Main site : www.tzuchi.org.tw/en/index.php?option=co...5&Itemid=275&lang=en

Tzu Chi USA : www.us.tzuchi.org/usa/home.nsf/home/index?OpenDocument