In an interesting piece (the title is more controversial than the content), Don’t Give Money to Haiti, Felix Salmon makes the point that large sums of money thrown at a corrupt government in short order will probably not be beneficial. As an example, he points to Red Cross money collected from the tsunami a few years ago; only 83% of the money has been spent, and since those donations were earmarked for that special purpose, the extra $500 000 000 is essentially stuck and cannot be used for Haiti efforts. Mr. Salmon’s thesis is that if one must donate cash, ensure that it is not earmarked. Additionally researching the institution is critical. Wise advice.
For those with technology skills, Crisis Camps have been set up in various parts of the US. Tech folks can go to these events and brainstorm, and perhaps even build stuff to help out. In this case, time may be more valuable than money.
Here’s the site for Crisis Camp Haiti in the Bay Area. It’s starting really soon, so hurry!
There was a Crisis Camp in Brooklyn, but sadly I didn’t hear of it till it had already passed 🙁
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