Friday, January 15, 2010

A note on text donations for #Haiti

Giving by text message is an easy way to help. Monetary aid is more practical than food or clothing donations at this point, though in the long-term, those will probably be appreciated as well. In the aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake, the American Red Cross quickly set up a mobile giving number and effectively spread the word through social media, especially Twitter. The Canadian Salvation Army later followed suit.

There are a lot of mixed reports on how and where you can donate to the Haiti Earthquake fund. Here is a short list of a few legitimate options for mobile giving with this specific cause in mind. All donations will appear on your next cellphone bill.

If you're in the USA, text "HAITI" to 20222 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

!!!THIS ONLY WORKS IN THE US!!!

In Canada, text "HAITI" to 45678 to make a $5 donation to the Canadian Salvation Army. Edit: According to this article, the government of Canada is matching all donations to the Salvation Army's Haiti fund.

You can also donate $5 to Plan Canada by texting "HAITI" to 30333. The government of Canada has confirmed it is matching Plan Canada donations.

Rogers/Fido customers can also text "Help" or "Aide" to 1291 to donate $5 for Haiti.

The government of Canada has announced that it would be matching all donations made to registered charities between January 12 to February 12, 2010. In fact, Canada is creating their own separate fund for Haiti and contributing a matching amount of money to said fund. If you have any additional questions or concerns, check out the CIDA FAQ here.

REMEMBER: Always make sure to donate to registered charities. Unfortunately, there are already lots of Haiti fund scams out there.

Be vigilant. And give whatever you can. Everything helps.

2 comments:

The Stage said...

Naila, do you know the administrative costs for any of the organizations? I would like to ideally donate to the one with the least amount of donations going to admin costs, and i think it would be great to include this for other people as well. thanks :)

NailaJ said...

Here's a great chart ranking Canadian charities by administrative expenses, published earlier this year in Money Sense.

Hope it helps!

http://bit.ly/8V96Ud