Help for Haiti

I think that we can all agree that the disaster(s) that have occurred in Haiti over the last two weeks have been both surreal, and devastating. I cannot pretend to even begin to understand the absolute Hell on earth that these people are living in, and it just keeps coming. Their entire world has been upended in the most horrible way imaginable. It is nearly impossible to watch the aftermath unfold on our nightly news without feeling the need to do whatever you can.  My heart breaks a little bit more every time I see another somber face who has lost everything.

Call me the perpetual cynic however, because I am loathe to donate money that I have worked hard for to sketchy organizations who may or may not have just popped up on the internet with the intention of taking advantage of the charity of others. It seems cold, but it is a reality that there is no shortage of soulless bastards who wait around for "opportunities" such as these to prey on those who choose to help through donations.

That is why I have been scavenging the magnificent World Wide Web to try to figure out if there was only some way to know.  I needed to do research before leaping into action (by action I mean clicking a few buttons which doesn't really seem all that philanthropic when I think about it in real terms, and kind of makes me feel like an asshole if I am really being honest with myself). In any case, I stumbled across the most brilliant charity website of all time. Charitynavigator.org offers a consolidated source for reliable charities all over the world. Each charity listed has an associated page for its income statement involving the organization's revenue and program expenses. This page also includes salaries and compensation for the CEOs and Presidents of each organization. There is a star rating system, an overall scoring system, and a comments section where those who have participated with different charities can comment on their experiences. There is also a news section for each charity where you can access any articles that have been written about that particular charity.

While it may seem callous or cold of me to take such a pragmatic approach to charitable donation, I just can't sleep well at night throwing money out into the universe and simply "hoping" that it will land where I intended it to go.  Giving to charity feels good, but giving to a charity who you trust feels even better.