Donations Pour in for Quake Victims

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The images from Haiti are powerful and provoking. And though Americans are dealing with their own financial problems, they're reaching into their pockets to help.

"We expected a pretty good response, but we have really been amazed at the response," says Jonathan Aiken, spokesman for the American Red Cross.

Many grocery and convenience stores are conducting checkout campaigns. WaWa stores are asking for just $1.00 added to a purchase.

At the busy WaWa store in Capitol Heights, manager Ben Dutton says customers have been willing and eager to help.

"They feel as though this is probably the closest way they can touch someone's life over in Haiti at this point," says Dutton.

Touching keys on a mobile phone is making a difference too. Millions have tapped in a simple "short code" to make a $10 Haiti relief donation. In just a few days, the American Red Cross has received more than $21 million in text donations alone.

"It really does change the way people look at donating money, and also makes it easier for them to do it as well," says Aiken.

Donors are billed on their mobile phone accounts at the end of the month, and the mobile providers pass the donations along to the charity. That immediacy also means less money spent getting call centers staffed and running.

The Mobile Giving Foundation has compiled a growing list of Haiti relief organizations -- the Red Cross, OxFam, UNICEF, and the Clinton Bush Haiti fund.

http://www.mobilegiving.org/?page_id=364

Texters have given $21 million to those groups, too.

Now smaller organizations, like Reaching Hearts for Kids in Beltsville, Maryland, are trying to harness that power. Director Norma Nashed says fundraising is usually a difficult exercise, requiring lots of patience and persistence.

Now, she's trying to get her Facebook page up and running, and learning how to push donations through her website.

"This helps people to be aware of who we are and what we do," says Nashed.

http://www.reachinghearts4kids.org/

Nashed's charity supports orphanages in 13 countries, including Haiti. There, the Eden Garden orphanage survived. The difficulty now is trying to help the thousands that continue to come to them for aid.

"They have a health clinic, where they are serving the injured people, they have a school and a bakery-- all they need is funds so they can feed people," said Nashed.

Microgiving is changing the way charities run their campaigns. Today doesn't take a millionaire -- just millions of people giving small amounts -- to make a big difference.

For more on donating to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, click on these links:
 
MOBILE GIVING FOUNDATION
http://www.mobilegiving.org/?page_id=364

REACHING HEARTS FOR KIDS
http://www.reachinghearts4kids.org/

FBI TIPS TO AVOID HAITI SCAMS
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel10/earthquake011310.htm

CHARITY NAVIGATOR
http://www.charitynavigator.org/