On January 12, 2009 a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, shattering the infrastructure, government and leaving thousands dead, trapped and injured.

An outpouring of support for the Haitian people has already swept the web. We have gathered a few trusted places where you can easily and quickly donate to the cause.

SMS Text Message Donations: charged directly to your cell phone bill

• Donate $10 to the American Red Cross by texting “HAITI” to “90999.”
Americans have already raised $8M+ through @RedCross.

• Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake relief efforts by texting “YELE” to 501501  Donations have exceeded $2M.

Also accepting cash and in-kind donations are the following sites:

UNICEF, Direct Relief, Yele Haiti, Partners in Health, Red Cross, World Food Program, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, Lambi Fund, Doctors Without Borders, The International Rescue Committee, Care

The United Nations Foundation committed $1 million to assist in the relief and reconstruction efforts. The Foundation is also reaching out to its partners, donors, grassroots and friends to seek their support. The UN Foundation is the private sector mechanism for raising funds for the UN emergency efforts through the CERF. The CERF provides immediate assistance during crisis such as this. The UN has already released $10 million from CERF to extend immediate assistance and rescue missions

The Salesforce.com Foundation will match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000. That means that with the Foundation’s matching funds, these critical organizations will get $200,000 in much-they are working with: the Red Cross and World Vision. If you donate even $2, that alone is more than what most of Haiti’s population survives on per day.


Please be careful, though. Some callous people have set up fake charities soliciting donations that won’t really help anyone. The U.S. Better Business Bureau runs a site where U.S. donors can verify that a nonprofit is legit before donating.

[Photos from United Nations on Flickr]