Haitian Earthquake: 5 Organizations To Donate To (and one to avoid)

Over the last few years we have all witnessed terrible natural disasters at home and abroad. From Hurricane Katrina's swath of destruction through the Big Easy all the way around the world to the southeast Asian beaches that were washed into the sea along with thousands of people in the 2007 tsunami, we have been called upon several times to reach out beyond our borders and act together as citizens of the world.

This week's earthquake in Haiti is another such call to action. The Red Cross estimates that 45,000-50,000 have died in the poverty-stricken Carribean nation after Tuesday's 7.0 earthquake rocked the capital city of Porte-au-Prince. The city is home to 2 million inhabitants, thousands of whom are piling into the streets without food or water- some too afraid to go back to their homes for fear of aftershocks, and many others with no homes left to go back to at all.

Aid money is coming in record numbers but there is still much help needed. Before you give however, consider where your money is going. Here is a short list of organizations you can donate to, and some you may want to avoid.

Relief Organizations to Consider Donating to:

The Red Cross
Perhaps the easiest and most popular way to donate right now- you can text "HAITI" to 90999 and $10 will be added to your monthly cell phone bill to support the Red Cross' relief efforts.

HaitiChildren.org Mercy and Sharing
One of the poorest countries in the world, many in Haiti live on less than $2 a day. Children are heavily affected by this climate, with 1 in 8 dying before the age of five years old. The earthquake adds even more devastation to the devastation already being faced. Children are in particular duress in Haiti and they need your help today.

Hope for Haiti's Children
Another organization for Haitian children. Click here to read about their earthquake relief efforts.

Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a disaster relief organization that specializes in earthquakes. They currently have a team in Haiti and are looking for all the help they can get. Click here if you want to help the Mercy Corps.

Partners in Health
Partners in Health has launched their "Stand by Haiti" program to aid in delivering health services to those who are injured at the scene. This organization specializes in delivering health care to the poor, have been on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years and are uniquely positioned to offer valuable services in this time of need. Transparency is assured with up-to-the-minute updates of their efforts which you can follow by clicking on this link or go directly to their donation page to make a contribution.

Money Better Spent Elsewhere:

The Yele Haiti Foundation
The Yele Haiti Foundation is one of the premier organizations handling privately donated relief money for victims of the Haitian quake. The Foundation is currently receiving donations at the rate of about $1 million per day. Thesmokinggun.com however has discovered that the organization, headed by singer Wyclef Jean under the Wyclef Jean Foundation, has largely benefited the singer's own career. The Yele Haiti Foundation has also only posted financial statements going back to 2006, despite being operational for 12 years.

...the group paid $31,200 in rent to Platinum Sound, a Manhattan recording studio owned by Jean and Jerry Duplessis, who, like Jean, is a foundation board member.... The recording studio also was paid $100,000 in 2006 for the "musical performance services of Wyclef Jean at a benefit concert." That six-figure payout, the tax return noted, "was substantially less than market value." The return, of course, does not address why Jean needed to be paid to perform at his own charity's fundraiser. But the largest 2006 payout--a whopping $250,000--went to Telemax, S.A., a for-profit Haiti company in which Jean and Duplessis were said to "own a controlling interest."

Thank you to all of the organizations who are pulling together manpower and resources to help those in extreme need. In light of the controversy that somehow managed to find its way so quickly into this situation, it's good to know there are people who are focused first and foremost on the preservation of human life.