Ways to help Haiti (for twitter readers, txt “HAITI” to “90999” to donate $10 to Red Cross)

This disaster seems especially unfair. To have an earthquake hit in an area that doesn’t have reason to be particularly prepared for it and to strike so close to a major population center like Port-au-Prince seems particularly devastating.  Haiti is particularly poor, even compared to other Caribbean nations, but in some ways things had been improving of late. I do tend to favor disaster aid as it tends to be one of the most effective form of aid, because recovery and dealing with temporary problems is easier than development. There is no question that this is devastating for Haiti, but that doesn’t mean despair and official government aid are the only way to go.

Via @MontgomeryCoMD a list of organizations accepting donations [I went with Doctors Without Borders as I’ve read a lot about them (aka MSF) in grad school [Also Lutheran World Relief, which from past research I know to have low overhead]]:

• [Lutheran World Relief - community.elca.org
• Catholic Relief Services – www.crs.org
• American Jewish World Service – www.ajws.org
• United States Fund for UNICEF – www.unicefusa.org
• Interaction Coalition – www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti
• American Red Cross – www.RedCross.org
• Doctors Without Borders – www.doctorswithoutborders.org
• International Medical Corps – www.imcworldwide.org
• For other information on how to help earthquake victims, go to the Department of State’s website at www.state.gov.

Via Ackerman a list from whatisleft there’s a good number of options, I’m including the phone ones for convenience, I don’t know these as well aside from the Red Cross.  :

1) Text "HAITI" to "90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross … (Update: I am told this only works in the US)

2) Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti … Check out more on Yele Haiti.  [I don’t know that group as well, but they’re apparently a longstanding foundation formed by Wyclef Jean to help Haiti]

Beyond the links, Chris Sacca covers a few ways to learn more about Haiti.

Photo from Globovision used under a Creative Commons License