Haiti - why so many charities collecting?

R

RMCF

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There is a lot of media coverage at present about the lack of co-ordination in getting supplies to Haiti to help save lives after the disaster.

Having seen this, I was shocked the other night to watch a media report on Irish TV which had a scrolling banner along the screen giving the website addresses/contact details of Irish charities that were asking for donations to help.

There must have easily been about a dozen separate charities collecting.

I remember Concern, Goal, Trocaire, Haven, Oxfam, Unicef - and there were others.

My question is why? Could we not have 1 single Irish charity and bank account to donate into? I know that these charities must have admin costs etc and surely the more of them that are collecting, the less that will actually be used to help those affected?
 
Charities are big business, the big ones pay big salaries to those who run them.
 
I feel someone should do a frank independent report on this issue. It seems crazy sending out a small team to assess the situation when others are probably doing the same. No doubt there are many well meaning dedicated people who are doing trojan work without pay but the feeling exists that this charity business is badly in need of reassessment.
 
The Charity industry often creates massive duplication of services in disaster zones and refugee camps, wasting millions in the process. In theory the UN should coordinate but NGO's guard their independence and anyway, the UN are massively inefficient and bureaucratic themselves as well as being very political and, on the ground, often corrupt.
 

It you waited on the UN it would be the next year before anything happened.
 
You could decide between charities if you had any idea of the breakdown of costs for each.

For example % of income spent on administration.
Or the amount that high profile CEOs get paid.

Especially the ones that like to regularly lecture the rest of us from radio and/or TV.
 
Or choose one of the smaller ones ?

I've a family connection to the Irish branch of a charitable organisation that has been active in Haiti for over 20 years and will be there long after the high-profile charities have rolled on to the next crisis.

I know that the Irish branch is run entirely on a voluntary basis - every cent donated to them goes to Haiti.
 

Is it against the rules to name it Tarfhead?
Give us the option of donating........
 
If this is against the rules .. MODs please act as you see fit.

http://www.irishhaitiresponse.blogspot.com/

They're not set up to take donations online. Read the blog accounts to get a sense of what they're about, and then decide to act on it, or not. Every cent donated will go to the organisation in Haiti.
 
Towger said:
Charities are big business, the big ones pay big salaries to those who run them.
Click to expand...
Do you reckon that these large organisations would be better run by offering low salaries to their senior execs?

dewdrop said:
I feel someone should do a frank independent report on this issue. It seems crazy sending out a small team to assess the situation when others are probably doing the same.
Click to expand...
How many charities that you know of have sent out small teams to assess the situation?
 
jhegarty said:
Which charity would you suggest be the only one to collect ?
Click to expand...

How about something similar to the UK Disasters Emergency Committee?
In major disasters, a number of affiliated NGOS get funds distributed from the DEC appeal. It saves individual organisations having to take out ads in radio, print & tv.

Also, we have the Rapid Response Corps, set up in the wake to the Asian tsunami. Many of the NGOs e.g. Goal, Haven partnership had already operation set up & would be a least familair with the culture. The Corps should at least be the co-ordinating body for all efforts of NGOs from here.

Pooling information is also crucial. Various assessment teams, not just from this country, have been sent. How much of that info is shared to avoid duplicaiton and to direct aid to where its needed?

[broken link removed]just such info - this is from people themselves.

We should not be a afraid to mix up charity with profesionals. A disaster of this type does need experts in logistics, engineering, communications, emergency medicine, sanitation. Its no place for well meaning ametuers.
 

Good post, very good points. "Its no place for well meaning ametuers" is the most important.
 
Exactly. Well highlighted.
 
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