Frequently Asked Questions

Why was the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund created?

Immediately after the earthquake, President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to join forces for a major fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people. Together they then established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, a 501(c)(3) designed to help the people of Haiti build back better. 

Why was the January 2010 earthquake especially devastating for Haiti?

Prior to the catastrophe, it is estimated that unemployment in Haiti was close to 70%, with more than half of Haitians living on less than one dollar a day. The regulatory, legal and educational environment in Haiti was not conducive to economic growth. So the earthquake worsened what was already a desperate situation, in particular by damaging or destroying the main sources of income and jobs for Haiti's poorest: micro, small and medium-sized businesses. According to a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) undertaken by the World Bank, UN, European Commission (EC), and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the total value of damage and losses caused by the earthquake is estimated at $7.863 billion, the equivalent of more than 120% of Haiti's 2009 GDP. And 70% of those damages and losses, or $5.5 billion, were experienced by the private sector.

What is the purpose of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund?

What Haiti needs are smart investments that will put people back to work and create the environment for vibrant, sustainable economic growth. We must give Haitians the tools to overcome the poverty and other conditions that destroy lives and make each crisis worse. A number of NGOs are on the ground working to meet Haitians' immediate needs. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's purpose is to help Haiti build back better, by focusing on promoting longer-term economic growth and job creation because these are just as necessary for Haiti's future. As our CEO, Gary Edson, detailed in his December 22, 2010 op-ed piece, Haitians must have a way to provide for themselves and their families and grow their economy. Our aim is to help eliminate the root causes of poverty that exacerbated the effects of the earthquake, and to help Haiti transform itself from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to one where all have the opportunity to prosper. We are working primarily in these key areas:

  • Supporting micro finance institutions, many of whose beneficiaries are women;
  • Providing small and medium-sized enterprises with access to financing and business services;
  • Facilitating training and workforce development for young people, women, and professionals, such as nurses, doctors, and engineers - the human capital that Haiti needs to "build back better;"
  • Responding to critical, unmet needs.

We are working to support the Haitian people's efforts to rebuild their own country. Thus, any success realized by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is not ours, but theirs.

Trying to determine what baseline work needs to be done in Haiti first in order to make the best use of donor money in the long-term is a daunting task. What are the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's priorities for the next three years?

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has occasionally awarded grants aimed at meeting selected near-term needs. But Presidents Clinton and Bush chose together to make the primary focus of the Fund promoting longer-term economic opportunity and job creation. Supporting small and growing businesses is challenging, and requires a flexibility and private-sector orientation often not found in traditional development agencies. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's strategy, staff, and resources are designed to bring these aspects to bear in helping the Haitian people. We believe that successful — and sustainable — reconstruction will not require moving from aid-dependent development that comes from the outside to private sector-driven growth that comes from within. Our aim will be to help Haiti transform itself from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to a country where everyone has the opportunity to prosper. We carefully consider all proposals received in order to choose the projects that will be most successful as well as most efficient in their use of our funding and have the most ripple- effect potential.

How much money has been donated so far to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund? Are collection efforts ongoing?

We have received $54.1M in donations as of December 2011. We continue to receive donations from generous Americans who want to help Haiti get on a sustainable path to recovery.

Your website says the fund is shifting its focus from relief work to longer-term needs, such as the promotion of jobs and economic opportunity. What kinds of projects do you envision will help accomplish these goals?

We help to rebuild lives and livelihoods through innovative activities, focusing on four key areas:

  • Supporting micro finance institutions, many of whose beneficiaries are women;
  • Providing small and medium-sized enterprises with access to financing and business services;
  • Facilitating training and workforce development for young people, women, and professionals, such as nurses, doctors, and engineers - the human capital that Haiti needs to "build back better;"
  • Responding to critical, unmet needs.

These activities are expected to span a variety of sectors and geographic areas, particularly in key economic centers outside of Port-au-Prince. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund also focuses most on building human potential. We want to help develop the ingredients for long-term prosperity in Haiti, by building the systems and services necessary for the private sector to flourish and grow. In all our activities, we will work with the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission to ensure consistency with the Haitian Development Plan.

What is the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's philosophy on reconstruction in Haiti?

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund acts on the belief that successful and sustainable reconstruction in Haiti requires private-sector-driven growth from within — not aid-dependent development from outside.

How do you choose partners and organizations to work with in Haiti?

We seek to achieve results by providing grants to reputable, innovative, dynamic charitable organizations operating on the ground in Haiti. We also make program-related investments (loans, loan guarantees, and equity-like investments) in finance and liquidity facilities, enterprises, and organizations whose activities can help build Haitian capacity and economic opportunity. We aim for funding that is catalytic, by leveraging additional funding and producing a multiplier effect in the communities where our partners operate. In all these activities, we will seek to leverage our assets — both capital and brand value — with other partners, especially Haitian partners, to maximize impact and sustainability.

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund conducts most of its grant-making activity on its own initiative, by supporting projects in consultation with other grant-makers, government entities, the private sector, the diaspora, and other stakeholders, especially Haitian partners. However, it may accept unsolicited applications that focus on meeting unmet near-term needs or on its longer-term objectives.

Above all, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund wants to make sure that our donations are used to ensure sustainable economic success in Haiti. We carefully consider all proposals received in order to choose the projects that will be most successful as well as most efficient in their use of our funding. We appreciate all donors for what they have given and take responsibility for using their money in the best ways using approaches that will last for years to come.

What is most encouraging about the work/efforts done so far?

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has made a variety of grants and program related investments to support the Haitian people’s efforts to rebuild their own country. We remain inspired by the courage and resilience of the Haitian people in the face of terrible devastation. Through our programs we have witnessed the stories of hope that are emerging in post-earthquake Haiti — the stories that compel us to keep working for a future in which every Haitian cannot just survive, but thrive. With that understanding, success realized by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is not ours, but theirs. 

The Fund made a catalytic grant to launch the Haitian Emergency Liquidity Program (HELP), backed by the Multilateral Investment Fund, a part of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the Deutche Bank Americas Foundation, and others. HELP was designed to shore up balance sheets of key microfinance institutions after the earthquake.

The Fund has made a series of grants and loans to organizations in the Haitian artisan sector. Our support to groups like Aid to Artisans, BrandAid, Fairwinds Trading, and HAND/EYE is promoting artisan exports through workshop repairs, development and design consulting, and business networks. It is bringing Haitian crafts to international markets, including large retailers like Macy's and Anthropologie.

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund made a grant to International Medical Corps to develop an emergency medical training and disaster response program to benefit physicians and nurses from the State University Hospital (HUEH) in Port-au-Prince and surrounding hospitals. Doctors and nurses from across Haiti are using the techniques they are learning in this program to save lives. 

The Fund has made a grant for the Pan-American Development Foundation (PADF) that, with support from the Caterpillar Foundation, is helping restore damaged homes in Léogâne, the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. Funding from the grant will train and employ Haitian engineers, masons, subcontractors, and construction workers to restore multi-family homes. 

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund awarded a grant to Architecture for Humanity to establish the Haitian Rebuilding Center in Port-au-Prince, which will serve as a one-stop shop for professional design and construction services. The grant will enable Haitian small and growing businesses to participate in post-earthquake reconstruction and ensure rebuilding incorporates better design and engineering. Ultimately, the Center will benefit the lives of 30,000 people within three years by providing workforce training, consumer education, professional referrals, and through serving as a clearinghouse for reconstruction bids.

These are just a few examples of how we are helping people to get back on their feet and restart their lives after a devastating disaster. The challenges are profound, but we believe that Haitians' determination to make better lives for themselves will help Haiti build back stronger and better than before. Learn more about the wide variety of programs we support on our programs page.

What major barriers remain to achieving the goals of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund?

Reconstruction is a slow process. And establishing the conditions for Haiti not only to recover but to thrive over the long term takes careful planning and diligent review of the programs that can make that goal a reality. The type of work to which the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is committed faces real barriers. The regulatory and legal environments in Haiti are not conducive to economic growth. The country ranks near the bottom in the World Bank's ease-of-doing-business survey. Capital is short. The educational system does not do a good job of preparing Haitians for success, and many of the university graduates leave the country for better opportunities abroad. To succeed, we must help Haiti reverse these trends and seize new opportunities.

At the time of the earthquake, Presidents Clinton and Bush saw the urgent needs and quickly responded, with the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund distributing a portion of money raised toward humanitarian relief. These near-term relief funds were allocated to a variety of organizations that provided immediate food, shelter, and medical support in Haiti. Read more about these relief grants at http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/pages/programs/.

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has now shifted to the second phase of support with a focus on promoting longer-term economy opportunity and job growth.

What are you doing about cholera?

We are deeply concerned about the health of those affected by cholera and the speed with which it has spread. But the threat of cholera, like so many other problems plaguing Haiti, is heightened by the country's acute poverty, which leads to a contaminated and unsafe water supply. So we are working to eliminate the root causes of that poverty, by continuing to focus on expanding jobs and economic opportunity.

Additionally, at our partner GHESKIO's request, we amended our grant to them to allow money to be redirected to their Haitian-run medical facility to provide training, treatment, clean water and purification supplies in communities and tent cities where the cholera outbreak is most acute. We have also made an emergency grant of $100,000 to the African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency to expand its cholera prevention program in rural Haiti with a special emphasis on mothers and children.

How long will the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund exist?

Unlike many traditional NGOs, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will have a finite existence, seeking to provide a bridge from the initial 18-month emergency period to the longer 10-year reconstruction period.

As of now the Fund does not have a set expiration date. Our goal is to promote the creation of jobs and economic growth, serve as a catalyst for building Haitian capacity, watch as Haitians sustain it, and then remove ourselves from the picture. At the end of the day, Haiti's development — and its successful future — must be achieved from within. We want to enable Haitians to do this.

How do I make a donation?

You can contribute to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund in any of three ways:

Web:
Visit our secure online donation page.

Mobile Giving:
Text the word "QUAKE" to 20222 to donate $10 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, charged to your cell phone bill. Data and message rates may apply.

Mail:

FOR US POSTAL SERVICE MAIL:

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
PO Box 418009
Boston, MA 02241-8009

 

FOR COURIER DELIVERED MAIL:

Bank of America Merrrill Lynch Lockbox Services
Lockbox 418009
MA5-527-02-07
2 Morrissey Blvd
Dorchester, MA 02125

 

Are contributions to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund tax deductible?

Yes, donations to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Will I receive a receipt for my online donation?

You will receive an email confirmation of your donation, which can serve as a receipt for tax purposes. In order to save postage costs and paper, we are only sending receipts by mail for donations of $250 or more. Please email us at contact@clintonbushhaitifund.org to request a paper receipt if you did not get an email receipt.

How is my mobile donation processed?

When you text a mobile donation to one of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund shortcodes ("QUAKE" or "TEAM" to 20222), $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill ($5 in Canada). The Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF), a qualified 501(c) (3), will appear as recipient of the charge on your cell phone bill. The Mobile Giving Foundation is issuing the full value of these mobile donations directly to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. There is no deduction taken by your mobile carrier or the Mobile Giving Foundation.

Will I get a receipt for my mobile donation?

Your mobile bill can serve as a receipt for your donation for tax deduction purposes. Note that the Mobile Giving Foundation will appear on your bill as the recipient of your donation. To request a receipt from the Mobile Giving Foundation, visit their website.

How do I request a matching gift from my company?

Please request and complete a "Matching Gift Form" from your company. Our EIN is 27-2122785.

After you have completed the form, please mail or email it to our office:

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
1501 K Street, NW
Suite 380
Washington, DC 20005

I want to volunteer to help with relief and rebuilding in the region. Can I do that through the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund?

We do not currently accept volunteers. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is designed to accept monetary donations that can be allocated to organizations working on the ground in Haiti.

Some organizations will be looking for qualified volunteers with experience working on disaster relief and rebuilding efforts. To learn more about registering as qualified disaster relief volunteer, please visit the Center for International Disaster Information.

Most agencies responding to disasters can make most use of cash donations. For a list of agencies responding to the earthquake in Haiti and to learn more about ways in which you can help their efforts, visit www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti.

Which organizations have received funds from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund?

In the aftermath of earthquake, initial grants were allocated to a variety of organizations that provided immediate food, shelter, and medical support in Haiti. Since then the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has given out additional grants to organizations focused on promoting job creation and economic growth. You can read more about these grants under the programs tab at http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/pages/programs/.

Does money raised by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund go to the Haitian government?

We are not working to finance government aid and reconstruction efforts, but rather to complement them. We are partnering with other Haitian and international organizations whose missions are aligned with our own. In this way, we will maximize the power of every contribution made to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

In all activities, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will work with the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission to ensure consistency with the Haitian Development Plan.

How can my organization receive funds from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund?

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund conducts most of its grant-making activity on its own initiative, by supporting projects in consultation with other grant makers, government entities, the private sector, the diaspora, and various stakeholders, especially Haitian partners. However, the fund may accept unsolicited applications that focus on meeting unmet near-term needs or on Haiti's longer-term objectives of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise support, work force development, and the promotion of economic opportunity.

With respect to near-term needs, organizations must demonstrate that the needs addressed in the project cannot be met through other sources of financing and that the project will lay a clear foundation for longer-term reconstruction.

If your organization meets the longer-term objectives of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise support, work force development, or economic opportunity, please send your information to contact@clintonbushhaitifund.org.