Wednesday, January 20, 2010
By Joshua Rhett Miller
What do Alyssa Milano, Sandra Bullock, Lance Armstrong, Gisele Bundchen, the country of Senegal and — very possibly — you have in common?
All — including you — have donated more funds to the Haitian relief effort than oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
That's right ... if you personally have donated money to help the earthquake-stricken people of Haiti, then you have contributed more money than the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose combined dollar donation is a big fat zero.
As Haiti slowly recovers from last week's earthquake, nearly $400 million has been donated by countries, individuals and organizations to the devastated nation, accordign to United Nations documents.
But the goodwill has been far from balanced. India, which has one of the world's largest gross domestic products, has donated $1 million, a figure matched or eclipsed by much smaller economies like the Czech Republic ($1.1 million), Botswana ($1.1 million) and Senegal ($1 million).
And those donations have been matched or topped by individuals like Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
The United States leads the way among developed nations with $114.5 million donated as of Wednesday, according to the U.N. That's more than 28 percent of the $397 million donated to rebuild the impoverished Caribbean nation. The United Kingdom and France are next with more than $30.9 million and $16.8 million donated, respectively. Australia ($13.4 million) and Italy ($8.7 million) round out the top five donating countries.
Another $951 million has been pledged from other nations.
Click here to see how much the world has given.
Other key contributors include the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which donated more than $25 million, and the European Commission, which added nearly $6 million to the relief effort. The European Union has also pledged an additional $400 million-plus.
Private organizations and individuals have contributed more than $110 million — better than one-quarter of the relief funds currently tracked by the U.N. — with another $146 million pledged.
Among private organizations and corporations, the American Red Cross has donated nearly $6 million, including a $5 million cash contribution, followed by Deutsche Bank ($4 million), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($1.5 million) and Bank of America ($1 million). Wall Street behemoths Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan have donated $1 million each, along with Starbucks and the Hess Corporation. The World Bank has pledged $100 million, according to U.N. documents. Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association have pledged $1 million apiece.
Not to be outdone by big business, celebrities like Jolie and Pitt have pledged $1 million to the relief fund via the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Sandra Bullock also has donated $1 million. Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen has added $1.5 million, followed by Madonna ($250,000), seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who has sent $125,000 via his foundation, and actress Alyssa Milano ($50,000).
Actor George Clooney and musician Wyclef Jean have also joined the effort and will host telethons to generate donations to the impoverished nation. Clooney's Not on Our Watch charity gave another $1 million to Haiti, and contributions have been pouring into Jean's Yele Haiti charity.
Top economies like Japan and China, meanwhile, have donated $5.3 million and $4.4 million, respectively, or roughly 1 percent of the nearly $400 million donated. Germany, according to U.N. documents, has donated more than $6 million, easily surpassing donations from the Russian Federation, which provided $700,000 and one cargo aircraft with two helicopters.
Some oil-producing countries might be donating indirectly. On Jan. 15, the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations announced a $100,000 to support relief efforts, and the OPEC Fund for International Development announced a grant of $500,000 for emergency operations. Neither donation has been listed in U.N. documents.
The United Arab Emirates' government hasn't sent any funds, but the UAE's Red Crescent, the federation's chief private humanitarian organization, has donated roughly $430,000 and housing materials.
Venezuela, like Saudi Arabia and Iran, hasn't made a withdrawal at the ATM machine, but it has provided 616 tons of emergency relief materials and 116 tons of special machinery for reconstruction.
And Iran, which has seen its share of cataclysmic earthquakes, has offered 30 tons of food, tents and medicine. (Its Red Crescent has also donated $106,000).
Saudi Arabia stands nearly alone with Kuwait. According to the U.N. document, neither country has donated or pledged so much as a penny or a Band-Aid.
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