Looking for a way to collect money online for charity (Haiti)

Nobrow

Hey,

This is the wrong forum but then they all are ...

I would like to set up a webpage where my colleagues and I can donate money for Haiti.

Requirements:

• No (or minimal) charge
• Must be able to transfer collected money to a couple of different charities
• Need to be able to move the money out quickly (only planning to allow a couple of days to donate)
• Donations would need to be anonymous so as not to embarrass the stingy ones
• But the whole process would need to be transparent (receipts etc.)

Does anyone know a useful site? PayPal will steal a chunk of the money so they are out. There is justgiving.com but they are UK based the charities must have registered with them.

Thanks

phasers

Bank transfer/postal order

Lazy young'uns

SoupyNorman

I think this is relevant.

TheZohanS

mycharity.ie

That_Guy

That money was just resting in your account was it eh?

MagicMarker

Why not just donate through Haven? Or transfer directly to the charities you'd prefer?

Seems you're making things a little more complicated than they need to be.

CamillaRhodes

I don't think you're gonna get much better than justgiving.com without compromising on either professionalism or transparency. Are you thinking you would prefer to donate to smaller charities who might not be registered in the UK / signed up with justgiving? If so (and I know after hours isn't usually a serious place, but I want to say this here anyway) you might find the post below interesting. It was written by a friend and former colleague who I worked with briefly in post-tsunami Thailand. It's pitched towards an American readership, but I think she makes very good points about how and to whom to donate.

***

I know it's tempting to donate to the Red Cross, since it's hard to imagine anyone else having the breadth of resources available to even attempt to address the amount of damage Haiti has just experienced. But my time in Thailand after the tsunami caused me to be disillusioned by very large international organizations and their effectiveness on the ground, even in severely hit areas. I have some recommendations below as alternatives sources to fund rather than the large bureaucratic nightmares of disaster aid. I hope you'll consider donating to one of these immediately, or even joining in to lend a hand. And if you've already given, please consider giving again.

i will try to update this as i learn more.

UPDATE: 16 january 2010
as of yesterday the red cross had raised well over $8million in it's campaign. it's hard to say what is enough, but if you are trying to decide where to donate even a small amount, consider also saving it for - or donating again in - a month or two from now when the needs for recovery will still be great, or a year from now when funds will still be needed for rebuilding.

1) Partners In Health is a local, on the ground organization already present in much of Haiti, and recommended by two friends i trust: an author of a disaster relief case study of how communities come together in the face of disaster (A Paradise Built in Hell if you wanna read it!) as well as a human rights lawyer whose main focus is work in Haiti. PIH have low overhead, work closely with, or act as the government in many areas, and have a great record of care.
http://www.pih.org/where/Haiti/Haiti.html

2) A fellow tsunami volunteer and humanitarian has been directing a support organization for the people of Port-au-Prince since 2008, Help Tammy Help Haiti, focused on improving the living conditions for the area of Cité Soleil. A small group of disaster workers led by Tammy is already booked to travel to Haiti at the end of January, and if you donate to this organization you KNOW the money will be delivered directly to the communities that need support, since they already know and trust Tammy there. It's a Canadian group.
http://helptammyhelphaiti.com/home.html

3) A first response organization I worked with in Peru after the 2007 Pisco earthquake, Hands On Disaster Relief is sending an earthquake assessment team to judge where their involvement will be most useful. Working in their favor is that they helped shovel mud and restore houses for months after the hurricane in Gonaïves and have many contacts already in Haiti. They are really good at mobilizing quickly, finding the areas not focussed on already and in need, and using international volunteer help to do really dirty work of demolition and basic clean up. This would be a good group to join forces with if you want to swing a sledgehammer for a couple weeks.
http://hodr.org/2010/01/13/haiti-earthquake-assessment-launch/

4) If you are interested in donating to somewhere that doesn't do direct disaster relief, but who is invested in the question of human rights being incorporated into the many phases of response to the earthquake, please consider a donation to the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. My friend is a lawyer working with this group and they have been instrumental in plodding through the long work of supporting an environment in Haiti - and for Haitian immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in the US - that is fair and just. And it's really important that we also think of and prepare well for the long term in moments of shock and despair and just wanting to fix it all right now.
http://www.ijdh.org/

5) Also recommended by those familiar with Haiti is the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. It's based in the Bay Area and already working with a wide range of important issues from sustainable agriculture to women's organizing to human rights to internal refugees to education. Raj Patel, writer and activist, adds on his website: Through The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund Haiti’s grassroots movement – including labor unions, and support committees for prisoners and agricultural cooperatives – will attempt to funnel needed aid to those most hit by the earthquake.
http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html

6) An organization working with children primarily for the area of St. Clare in Port-au-Prince is the What If Foundation. Already skilled in improving access to food for kids, this would be another great place to support. They are also based in Berkeley.
http://whatiffoundation.org/

7) A group from my home region the Seattle King County Disaster Team (SKCDT) is heading to Haiti in early February. Money raised will go to buy medicine, some of it to be administered by the aunt of a fellow tsunami volunteer. His aunt is a Nurse Practitioner and this will be her second medical mission to Haiti. Checks can be made out to SKCDT and sent to the address you find when you click on "location".
http://www.wa1dmat.com/

8) If you're still wanting to give to a name you have heard of, Medicins Sans Frontieres (or Doctors Without Borders) is a very capable organization with good infrastructure. They also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. A nurse friend of mine works with them several months a year in Africa, and a couple fellow disaster relief worker friends have worked alongside them with much respect for their flexibility and organized nature in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Burma.
http://www.msf.org/

9) Long time Food First partner Grassroots International has a long history of working with organizations on the ground in Haiti. Grassroots has committed to the extent possible to, “provide cash to our partners to make local purchases of the items they most need and to obtain food from farmers not hit by the disaster.”
http://www.grassrootsonline.org/news/blog/all-hands-responding-haiti-emergency

10) About Food First: they are working to analyze the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and developing solutions in partnership with movements working for social change. Looks like they're also accepting donations, but I'm including them more for their larger mission which is so important in understanding why Haiti got where it is - harder hit than necessary by an earthquake due to poor infrastructure - in the first place!
http://www.foodfirst.org/

Piste

Why don't you just donate the money to Oxfam Ireland instead of setting up your own collection to go to the charity anyway? Seems needlessly hassle-full!

Not to mention other websites that you donate to as a group and which forward the money on to bigger charities take a small percentage of the money you donate. By donating directly to on-the-ground charities in Haiti you'll do more good for your money.

gurramok

I donated $40 thru Farmville on Facebook. My addiction to the game and my compassion for people who don't have a roof over their head nevermind a PC to attend to made me donate.

Zynga(who run most FB games) say 100% of donations go straight to the cause rather than them getting a cut.

FlutterinBantam

Nobrow wrote: »

Hey,

This is the wrong forum but then they all are ...

I would like to set up a webpage where my colleagues and I can donate money for Haiti.

Requirements:

• No (or minimal) charge
• Must be able to transfer collected money to a couple of different charities
• Need to be able to move the money out quickly (only planning to allow a couple of days to donate)
• Donations would need to be anonymous so as not to embarrass the stingy ones
• But the whole process would need to be transparent (receipts etc.)

Does anyone know a useful site? PayPal will steal a chunk of the money so they are out. There is justgiving.com but they are UK based the charities must have registered with them.

Thanks

You ring Concern/Goal
You get a bank account no
You walk to the bank
You donate.

Why are people making simple things sound oh so complicated.:(

CamillaRhodes

More on choosing an organization to donate to.

SoupyNorman

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Why are people making simple things sound oh so complicated.:(

He does not want to donate as 'Anonymous'.

Capt'n Midnight

don't forget that with donations of over €250 the charity can claim back income tax so it might be better to collect that amount from people and get a tax paye to give it to the charity with their PPS number


No there is no need for another charity site, unless you are doing it for vanity

if you have an internet presence use it to highlight your preferred charity

or use mycharity.ie or similar site that means people can be sure the money will go directly to the charity in question without any middlemen

Nobrow

People are asking why I am looking for a way to collect the donations online.

One we have multiple offices so simply collecting cash from people isn't efficient. Two I do not want people to have to be seen to make donations or to not have. I don't want to peer pressure them into it. I would however like them to be able to visit a donations page, and see the number and amount of donations so far, and let their conscience eat at them. Finally I think having a live and visible record of what staff are giving will give me a bit of leverage when I come and ask the company to match it.

Otherwise, yes of course I would just make my personal donation directly.

I would like to give to MSF and Goal, but it would need to be decided by popular vote I think. My problem with justgiving.com is that I think most people would prefer for their donations to be recorded as coming from Irish registered charities (vanity yes) and also that there is no way of specifying that the money goes to a particular campaign.

Sabre0001

Have seen ChipIn used for charity events. Does send amout to PayPal though so......

kippy

Nobrow wrote: »

People are asking why I am looking for a way to collect the donations online.

One we have multiple offices so simply collecting cash from people isn't efficient. Two I do not want people to have to be seen to make donations or to not have. I don't want to peer pressure them into it. I would however like them to be able to visit a donations page, and see the number and amount of donations so far, and let their conscience eat at them. Finally I think having a live and visible record of what staff are giving will give me a bit of leverage when I come and ask the company to match it.

Otherwise, yes of course I would just make my personal donation directly.

I would like to give to MSF and Goal, but it would need to be decided by popular vote I think. My problem with justgiving.com is that I think most people would prefer for their donations to be recorded as coming from Irish registered charities (vanity yes) and also that there is no way of specifying that the money goes to a particular campaign.

Leave a few collection buckets in each office, an old box even........deposit monies into whatever aid agencys account you wish.....
No one needs to know whos put the money in etc and if anyone wants to make a personal donation they dont have to do it via the bucket but can it via one of the couple of hundred charities online.......

I was in Ti Neachtains (sp) yesterday, they had a few pint glasses on the bar labelled "haiti appeal", twas as good a way of donating a small amount as any, can remember similiar for tsunamai.

Its not rocket science. Sometimes the old fashioned methods are still in use for a reason.

filthymcnasty

walk down to the bank and put it in the charities a/c

fair play anyway

MagicMarker

Nobrow wrote: »

I would however like them to be able to visit a donations page, and see the number and amount of donations so far, and let their conscience eat at them.

Whether you like it or not, people can do whatever they want with their money, and their conscience will be clear.

Nobrow

MagicMarker wrote: »

Whether you like it or not, people can do whatever they want with their money, and their conscience will be clear.

Jesus there's always one ...

Im jumping through ****ing hoops here so as not to embarrass or pressure anyone who may have already, is modest about, or just ****ing doesnt want to give.

MagicMarker

Nobrow wrote: »

Jesus there's always one ...

Im jumping through ****ing hoops here so as not to embarrass or pressure anyone who may have already, is modest about, or just ****ing doesnt want to give.

Your comment suggests that you want people to see how many people have donated, so their ''conscience'' eats at them. Sounds exactly like pressure to me.

If you really don't want to pressure them, then leave them the fúck alone and let people donate through any of the numerous options available to them that have already been suggested in this thread rather than make a big song and fúcking dance about it.

Capt'n Midnight

Nobrow wrote: »

Jesus there's always one ...

Im jumping through ****ing hoops here so as not to embarrass or pressure anyone who may have already, is modest about, or just ****ing doesnt want to give.

You should have said it was for internal use in an organisation earlier.

www.mycharity.ie allows people to donate anonymously AND you can get a total too -

But TBH most people will probably donate through their own channels rather than through the organisation, unless there is an incentive like the organisation matching funds. And unless the organisation is contributing in some way I would consider it just a PR exercise as there are plenty of places to donate already , just do a search for Haiti on mycharity.ie for example.

enfant terrible

Is Trocaire a good charity i.e can you be sure money gets to where its needed

Overheal

Donation Tips [US but relevant]:

Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or other Web sites, as they might not have fully researched the listed relief organizations. The public can go to http://www.bbb.org/us/charity/ to research charities and relief organizations to verify that they are accredited by BBB and meet the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fundraising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting earthquake victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fundraising and administrative expenses. They may use some of their other funds to pay this, but the expenses will still be incurred.

Be cautious when giving online. Be cautious about online giving, especially in response to spam messages and e-mails that claim to link to a relief organization. In response to the tsunami disaster in 2004, there were concerns raised about many Web sites and new organizations that were created overnight allegedly to help victims.

Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted areas. Unless the charity already has staff in the effected areas, it may be difficult to get new aid workers to quickly provide assistance. See if the charity’s Web site clearly describes what they can do to address immediate needs.

Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations. If so, you may want to consider “avoiding the middleman” and giving directly to charities that have a presence in the region. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to ensure the organizations are equipped to effectively provide aid.

Ask before giving gifts of clothing, food or other in-kind donations. In-kind drives for food and clothing—while well intentioned—may not necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need, unless the organization has the staff and infrastructure to be able to properly distribute such aid. Ask the charity about their transportation and distribution plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief assistance.

jill_valentine

I'd just like to second Partners In Health - www.pih.org

Their clinics are out of the city, and have remained largely intact. 94 cents out of every euro goes right to work on the ground, which is a far better cut than Red Cross. They'll take any donation and put every penny to right to work.

I seem to recall one of our boardies' older sister works for them too, she was featured in a documentary on RTE1 a while back. Amazing group, they do amazing things with whatever they can.

Dudess

Disgraceful - donating to a cause that isn't Irish. Ever heard of the phrase "charity begins at home?" I'm sure you've a local GAA club that is a lot more deserving. :mad:

And what did Haiti donate to Ireland when we were beset by floods/freezing weather, hm?

Nobrow

Dudess wrote: »

Disgraceful - donating to a cause that isn't Irish. Ever heard of the phrase "charity begins at home?" I'm sure you've a local GAA club that is a lot more deserving. :mad:

And what did Haiti donate to Ireland when we were beset by floods/freezing weather, hm?

Im sorry, but thanks!

Overheal

She pulls it off so well its hard to tell if she was joking :pac: ... ?

Piste

Because Dudess changed her sig and avatar I didn't notice at first that it was her, I thought it was some random troll and my blood started boiling, then I saw her username and all was well.

flanum

you could join that facebook group that pledged to donate 10 dollars to haiti for everybody that joined the group... oh wait.. no admins seem to be on the group now funnily enough..i wonder what happened?? . hey come back here... hello... helllloooo... oops nobody there anymore..

starbelgrade

Nobrow wrote: »

[*]Donations would need to be anonymous so as not to embarrass the stingy ones

Have you ever considered that people may have reasons, other than financial ones, for not donating to charities? I'm sure that organising this gives you an enormous sense of well being, but you shouldn't let that tunnel your vision.