Ratings of disaster relief charities one year after the Haiti earthquake

In January of 2010, Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people1 and left a million or more suddenly homeless.2 Within days, over $200 million had been donated to the relief effort;3 within a year, the total amount raised or pledged exceeded $5 billion.4 A year later, the relief effort has made a tangible difference, but has also hit major snags including a cholera outbreak. The situation in Haiti remains dire.5 In the year since the disaster, we've been reviewing the information put out by the major disaster relief organizations, and rating the clarity and transparency of this information. While we don't yet have strong views on the quality of services provided in the relief effort, we hope that by donating to more transparent organizations, donors can contribute to incentives for more transparency and clarity in general. The table below summarizes our findings, with links to more detailed writeups on each organization. More details on how we found, examined and rated organizations are available at our process page for this cause. At this point we feel that Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health and Direct Relief International stand out for their above-average transparency.

Organization	Funds raised (millions USD)	Funds spent (millions USD)	Transparency on disaster relief activities	Transparency on everyday activities
American Red Cross	479	245	Slightly above average	Average
Americares	16.2	4.8	Slightly above average	Average
CARE	45	23.2	Average	Average
Catholic Relief Services	196	62.7	Average	Average
Direct Relief International	6.3	2.6	Above average	Above average
Doctors Without Borders (MSF)	134.96	102.57	Above average	Above average
Feed The Children	1.2	1.2	Slightly above average	Average
Food for the Poor	20.7	20.7	Average	Average
Habitat for Humanity International	20.5	13	Average	Average
Heifer International	1.9	1.0	Average	Average
International Federation of the Red Cross	1147.98	280.39	Average	Average
International Medical Corps	6.7	4.1	Average	Average
International Rescue Committee	13.1	5.1	Average	Average
Islamic Relief USA	2.5	1.7	Average	Average
Mercy Corps	16.8	5.1	Average	Average
Oxfam	98	68	Average	Average
Partners in Health	81.8	25.4	Above average	Above average
PSI	0.4	0.3	Average	Strong
Salvation Army	48	17	Average	Average
Save the Children	87	52.2	Average	Average
UNICEF	300	112	Average	Average
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)	43.1	3.6	Average	Average
United Way	3.9	0.7	Average	Average
World Food Programme	461	Unknown	Average	Above average
World Vision	192	60	Average	Average
Yéle	13.9	Unknown	Average	Average

Details of how we define transparency are available at process page for this cause. We also reviewed the following organizations, but excluded them from the above table - and from our transparency ratings - because they appear to primarily regrant funds to other organizations (more on these organizations at our process page for this cause).

Organization	Funds raised (millions)	Funds spent (millions)
American Jewish World Services (AJWS)	6.5	1.4
ChildFund International	1.5	0.6
Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund	52	20
Entertainment Industry Foundation	66	66

More information:

• Our overview of disaster relief as a cause
• Complete description of our process for creating the above table
• Our estimates of how much has been given and spent for the relief effort, and what the relief effort has and hasn't accomplished

Sources

• Associated Press. Haiti gives conflicting counts for quake deaths. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35334751/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/ (accessed January 11, 2011). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5vfoM0dng
• Chronicle of Philanthropy. Donations to Aid Haiti Exceed $210-Million, Chronicle Tally Finds. http://philanthropy.com/article/Donations-to-Aid-Haiti-Exceed/63628/ (accessed January 11, 2011). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5vfoLrlfU
• United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Haiti: One year later.http://ochaonline.un.org/OCHAHome/WhereWeWork/Haiti/HaitiEarthquakeResponse/tabid/7331/language/en-US/Default.aspx (accessed January 11, 2011). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5vfDnYdk2. (accessed January 11, 2011).

• 1. Associated Press 2010, "Haiti gives conflicting counts for quake deaths"
• 2. See the last section of our 2011 blog post on funding for Haiti disaster relief.
• 3. Chronicle of Philanthropy 2010.
• 4. See the our 2011 blog post on funding for Haiti disaster relief.
• 5. See our writeup on the situation in Haiti as of January 2011.
• 6. Converted from EUR to USD on 1/11/2011 using Google.
• 7. Converted from EUR to USD on 1/11/2011 using Google.
• 8. Converted from CHF to USD on 1/11/2011 using Google.
• 9. Converted from CHF to USD on 1/11/2011 using Google.