Haiti Donations Ineffective?
Felix Salmon was the first to throw a wet towel on the feelings of philanthropy and common cause that have led so many Americans to donate to a number of charities supporting emergency aid for beleaguered Haiti. For Reuters, Salmon writes:
[R]ight now there’s very little that can be done with the money. There are myriad bottlenecks and obstacles involved in getting help to the Haitians who need it, but lack of funds is not one of them. For the next few weeks, help will come largely from governments, who are also spending hundreds of millions of dollars and mobilizing thousands of soldiers to the cause. But with the UN alone seeking to raise $550 million, it’s going to be easy to say that all the money donated to date isn’t remotely enough.The problem is that Haiti, if it wasn’t a failed state before the earthquake, is almost certainly a failed state now — and one of the lessons we’ve learned from trying to rebuild failed states elsewhere in the world is that throwing money at the issue is very likely to backfire.
Salmon goes on to explain that a nation with no cranes at its ports cannot unload crates of supplies. Nor can a country with only one functioning airport accommodate every incoming relief flight: Two crucial delivery flights from Médecins Sans Frontières were prevented from landing and diverted to Dominican Republic. Salmon says the way to go is to continue donating to organizations like MSF but to give unrestricted donations -- which can be used in areas where money can make a greater difference.
In his reporting, Salmon notes a Smoking Gun article on Yéle, the Haiti-based aid organization championed by Wyclef Jean. That organization is the beneficent of a charity concert bringing Wale, Tabi Bonney, and other DMV hip-hop personnel to the 9:30 Club. It turns out that Yéle has some questionable financial records, including payouts to Wyclef Jean and the studio he owns for hundreds of thousands of dollars and scant tax filings.
For the Washington City Paper's (all-new, all-different) Arts Desk, Jonathan Fischer follows up with concert organizer Yodit Gebreyes, a Georgetown graduate student. She says that the group still intends to donate to Haiti reconstruction efforts through Yéle but may give less money to that particular organization.
Fischer also notes a Gawker post citing an anonymous source close to Yéle that says that the organization isn't prepared to handle the amount of donations it has received -- in large part because of Wyclef Jean's advocacy. And officially, Yéle President Hugh Locke responded to charges of shenanigans on Yéle's behalf -- answering some, but not all, of the allegations.
So if you feel the urge to do good in a part of the world that needs a great deal of help, remember that there are many parts the world that need a great deal of help, and some of those places call for a great deal of money. Haiti isn't that place right now, and Yéle may not be the organization to get it to them in any case -- at least, not right now. One final note: Donating via text is typically a terrible way to get any money to where you want it to be.