Four Sites That Let You Help Haiti

January 18 2010, 9:36am

Online fundraising campaigns have the reputation for being successful in the social media world without any of that success actually translating to physical donations. That’s not the case with the current Haiti relief efforts. Read below for a few of the initiatives taking place that harness user-generated sites to raise real money for Haiti. Zynga: A social gaming company has set up a system that allows FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker players to buy in-game items where 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to support emergency aid to earthquake victims in Haiti. Facebook: The massive social networking site has set up a “Disaster Relief on Facebook” page. It is intended to be the place people can go to educate themselves on how to help when disaster and misfortune strikes around the world. Facebook also supports the Causes application including groups such as the American Red Cross, Oxfam America and Partners in Health which have mobilized supporters through their Facebook pages to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. MyYearbook, a social networking site, has allowed users to donated over 3.5 billion in the social network’s Lunch Money virtual currency to the Haiti Relief Fund. My Yearbook set up this charity as part of their Causes program. It is not clear yet how much of this virtual money will translate into the Haiti Relief Fund. Twitter: Many celebrities such as Adam Lambert, Ben Stiller and Lance Armstrong are using their Twitter feeds to ask for earthquake relief donations. One of the most successful campaigns has been run by the American Red Cross. They have harnessed the power of Twitter to raise millions of dollars. Friday morning the Red Cross was among the 10 most popular topics on Twitter. They have also allowed users to donate via Facebook, texting and iTunes.