Please lock if posted or move if in the wrong forum. I was thinking, with the tragedy that has been going on in Haiti, is there anyway that us members of Clutchfans could help out by donating? Maybe set up a bank for the help out there. I don't know if that would interfere with the money that would help our site and if it would is there anyway that maybe we can set up an option to donate a portion to the "Haiti help fund"... Just an idea of how we here could give a hand to the people in need. Clutch??? Is this possible?
To answer your question not hard at all. I personally do not trust those processes. Reason being during Katrina I worked for Red Cross & tons of families were in need of assistance getting absolutely none. I'd rather deal with something established that I trust then something that you text to a number. If help can't get to New Orleans being here in the US, how would it be easier to get it to an entirely different country/island.
I think you can trust the Red Cross. I don't think you can trust those people on the side of freeways and medians seeking donations. I haven't seen any, but it wouldn't surprise me if people are on the side of freeways "seeking donations" for Haiti.
There are advantages and disadvantages to going through the larger organizations like the Red Cross. With the Red Cross, they already have funds to cover core expenses, so pretty much 100% of what you donate will go to towards actual food or water or medical supplies or whatever. Technically, your donations really just fund their future operations and money they already had stored up then gets spent on Haiti, but really, it works out all the same. You also don't really have to worry as much about fraud and the like because there is good oversight. On the flipside, they are going to work mostly through official channels. With smaller organizations, they can skip red tape and get on the ground more quickly and reach deeper into Haiti. My business partners with a non-profit in the Dominican that has started doing makeshift Haiti relief work. We did a big fundraiser last week, and that money is being used to send vans of supplies to some smaller orphanages that are off-the-grid and can't get support as easily. On the flipside there, there's going to be more expenditures to pay for transport and things like that. Here's part of an internal email about the fundraiser: That list that (Major) sent cost about $2,200, so the money raised on Monday paid for two loads plus the cost transportation to get it there. The first load went over yesterday and the second goes tomorrow to two Haitian-run orphanages who haven't received any help. Local organizations that don't have international ties have a hard time getting aid. In addition to not having satellite internet or people to contact to help them, Haitians are not allowed to go to the airport to pick up shipments (even if they're being sent to them). We work with several small shipping companies that are flying back and forth from Santiago, Dominican Republic (where I live), to Port au Prince and Jacmel. We can buy supplies to send with them, but we can't get them from the airport to these two orphanages. So the best way to get it in is to send a van in with directions and hope they can find them. Fortunately we have coordinates and google maps just completed Haiti and the DR right before this crisis, so that should be enough to locate them. So there are benefits and drawbacks to going either way, and it's about what you feel more comfortable with.
Having a lot of friends and family in Galveston I must say that Red Cross is totally on top of things. FEMA didn't do ***** when the ball first hit the ground after Ike (their help was very late). It was local law enforcement and the Red Cross that were helping the most for the first 2 weeks. Without the Red Cross people on the island would of had a lot harder time recovering. Make your donations directly to Red Cross and you can be assured that they are very efficient and on top of things.
posted this in the other thread based on ratings of the organizations.. (fyi, after looking through the 3 organizations, i decided my money would be best used by the first link--IMC. Obviously they're all good though) at any rate, to piggyback on rimrocker's post of the A+ organizations, here are links to those 3 A+'s (some links on that twitter page from before aren't working anymore) since this is what I was looking for--a direct link to donating International Medical Corps (A+) https://www.imcworldwide.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=878 International Rescue Committee (A+) https://www.theirc.org/donate/donate-now-haiti UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) (A+) http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/donation...8325&id=3018760
I've been to several disaster sites and I can understand some of the frustration with the Red Cross and other large NGO's. I've seen ad hoc aid done by individuals and small groups do a better job than goverments and other groups but at the sametime they also have many problems. If you would like to give set up your own organization I would be very cautious. At the minimum you should be working with someone who is there on the ground or knows that area very well. Just trying to do aid in a place where you have no contacts and know little about will likely lead to big problems. Such as in Haiti some well meaning individuals have found themselves needing aid since they were unprepared for the situation. Without the knowledge and contacts on the ground the best thing to do is to give to an established organization.
I actually saw this yesterday on the corner of Kuykehndahl and Louetta. Looked pretty Shady to me. They had a big poster with spray paint asking for Haiti donations.
I understand what everyone's saying about Red Cross. Of course they help, they have to help. IMO They just didn't help enough in our own country with our own natural distaster for me to trust. That is why I made this thread. Just to help. If this isn't anything plausable then I'll just do what I can from donating to the established networks. I apologize for the re-post my phone must have posted it twice. Please lock.
