Don't give money [that's restricted] to Haiti

It's unfortunate that he had to use such a link-bait headline on an otherwise very insightful essay. A more accurate title would have been "Don't give money to only Haiti".

I've been doing aid/development work for several years. The process of disaster giving right now is unfortunately deeply flawed.<p>Most aid workers are already on Facebook, and there are a lot of them. A guided social-giving application which allowed people to find personal connections to development workers within degrees of their actual social network would be more efficient. Money would flow based on degrees of trust, not hearsay or marketing.<p>An app allowing people direct access to professionals their friends trust would increase accountability and help people personally engage with and fund projects over time, regardless of the size of the organization.

I agree with the unrestricted donation part. My money went MSF primarily because they had a staff of more than 700 people before the earth quake struck and knew how to help the country.

Alternatively, if you'd like to help Haiti specifically don't give money to large international charities. They are the McDonald's of humanitarian assistance: big, generic, and predictable, but not necessarily the best available.<p>My family has friends who lived in Haiti for many years, and they are holding back on donating to the large charities on the basis that the real need for funds will be at native Haitian organizations, which will take a few months to get back on their feet and be able to accept donations.<p>If you'd like to help Haiti specifically, that's still an admirable impulse, but your money will be better spent if you give it to actual Haitians (and it will require some effort to work out which ones).

Charity isn't always about being as "effective" as possible. People there are literally dying from not having food, water, and medical care. I hate to say this on hacker news, but not <i>everything</i> is a numbers game. Haiti is in a humanitarian crisis right now. Yes, you could logically say to yourself that X dollars would be more "effective" elsewhere and that Haiti will never become a flourishing country, but that largely misses the point. It also presumes that you have the balls to say who should live and who should die. People there need help. Now.<p>A good charity I donated to is Partners in Health which was founded in Haiti (by an American) and has always been in Haiti. You can read more about them in "Mountains Beyond Mountains" which coincidentally and topically was written by Tracy Kidder who also wrote "Soul of a new Machine".

The GiveWell organization gave similar sentiments: <a href="http://blog.givewell.net/2010/01/13/haiti-earthquake-donations/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.givewell.net/2010/01/13/haiti-earthquake-donatio...</a>

I donated to Direct Relief, and I hope it helps.

the CNN reporters driving around in an empty pickup truck talking about no medical suppies .why don,t they go and get some this is making me sick...

Obama should get off his ass and get things moving