Charity Navigator: Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation

Charity Navigator: Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation

What strikes me as odd about the appeal for emergency aid to Haiti is that so much of it will probably go to rebuilding the structures that the NGOs were using to deliver aid before the earthquake rather than being delivered directly to victims. In a developed country a victim would go to get aid in a community owned building like a school or church. As we all give money to NGOs for the relief effort in Haiti, we know that almost anything permanent they build will probably be owned, a the very top at least, by foreigners. The cycle of poverty and disaster will simply continue to repeat itself until Haiti can liberate herself from corruption caused by US intervention in her politics.

Maybe Jean's foundation will be better than Partners In Health, American Red Cross, and the other US NGOs because he won't build any "permanent bases" and will focus on getting directly to Haitians. I personally split my donation between PIH, which runs most of the hospitals still standing in Haiti, and Islamic Relief USA, which put a team on the ground shortly after the earthquake and is laying plans for distributing aid that is on its way, and putting mobile water trailers in neighborhoods.

Back to Yele Haiti, donating be text message isn't a very good idea in an emergency since the group doesn't get the money until you pay your phone bill. It would work for an organization that has tons of money already, like the Red Cross (text haiti to 90999), but not Yele Haiti, which is broke until everyone pays their January cell phone bills.