How To Give Without Being Taken
Right now, the devastating earthquake in Haiti has left hundreds of thousands of people in urgent desperate need. One’s desire and willingness to help will make a difference in the lives of survivors, however, unfortunately we must note that it’s still wise to remain alert to the potential for disreputable scammers who may prey on your generosity and good will. As in past disasters, they will try to target the emotions of the public by sending out what appear to be personal e-mail appeals from individuals in Haiti. The messages may ask for your personal help or direct donations to a Web site that is really just a front for a phony charity. Though the FBI has stressed that they have not yet seen examples, they have no doubt they will start showing up.
You can feel more confident that your donation is going where you intended just by following these simple general rules:
Don’t respond to solicitations.
Don’t open attachments if you don’t know the sender.
Don’t click on links if you don’t know the host.
Don’t give to organizations you don’t know.
The organizations below, are good general resources to have on hand to better evaluate charity choices, and are mentioned in this article:
ABC News/ The Blotter from Brian Ross:
The Earthquake in Haiti: How To Give Without Being Taken
American Institute of Philanthropy, a nationally prominent charity watchdog service whose purpose is to help donors make informed giving decisions, advises givers to target groups with strong track records, that know the target needs and issues, and have well-organized didtribution systems for actually delivering that aid.
Charity Navigator has become the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Professional analysts have examined tens of thousands of non-profit financial documents. They use this knowledge to develop an unbiased, objective, numbers-based rating system to assess the financial health of over 5,000 of America’s best-known charities.
Better Business Bureau Charity Ratings, reports, standards, complaints, and more.
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For more information on charity and giving see our previous blog posts:
Shop to Give
Give (and Get: Fun, Travel, Discounts & Freebies)
Related videos:
Scams That Target the Military – Kiplinger’s
Charitable Giving 101 – Stephanie Auwerter, Smart Money
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Thanks for providing these valuable resources, Spend Less TV. Please see my blog for additional legitimate options for contributing to Haiti earthquake rescue and recovery efforts: Frugalista, The Frugal Side of Fabulous. The Jan. 14 entry, “Donate to Port-au-Prince Haiti,” offers links to: Food for the Poor, Cross International, The Miami Herald, Google has set up a page where you can donate to Unicef and CARE directly, and a Red Cross text-to-donate option.