Rhode Island Loves Haiti
Love Your Neigbor(ing NGO)
According to the database (see below for small print) at LearningHaiti 40 states plus the United States Virgin Islands have Haitian educational NGOs. These include NGOs that run orphanages or schools. Florida has the most - no surprise. But Rhode Island has more Haitian educational NGOs per capita than any other state. Some other surprising states that include at least one NGO are Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Who knew?
The fact that the vast majority of states in the US have an interest in Haiti is curious to me. I think it is for several reasons:
Haiti is the closest noncommunist developing nation to the American mainland (besides Mexico)t
1960
Instead of the US giving funds directly to Papa Doc they spread it around the country via American NGOs
1970’s
Baby Doc encourages more NGOS to come and provide human services so he could rob the nation blind
1980’s
The American evangelical community began focusing on active participation in missions. This can be seen in the comparison between California and Texas. They each have about the same amount of NGOss even though Texas is smaller. This can be attributed to a strong church culture in Texas.
1990s
Airfares became very cheap
20010
Haiti suffers an enormous tragedy that tugs at the heart. This ups the number of orphanages both run by Haitians and outsiders.
So the number of NGOs increased every decade. 2010 saw a burst but many of these are defunct today. Covid also did not help. Over the last few years, I have seen a 15% decrease in NGOs in the database.
So is Haiti really “The Land of 10,000 NGOs?” I think not. Let’s do a back-of-the-envelope calculation:
There are about 340 educational NGOs in the database (this includes orphanages that have a website). I have been researching this for 14 years so I think I have the majority but let’s assume I missed 100 - that gives us 440
I didn’t include water, agriculture, medical, or business-oriented. I think the total number of each of these would be less than orphanages and schools but to be on the safe side let’s say they each are 300 NGOs. This leads to 1200 NGOs
Now let’s double that to include Haitian based NGOs.
Assume 100 international NGOs including USAID and UN organizations..
Added up this all amounts to 3380 NGOs. Let me know below if I am missing a sector.
This is a far cry from 10,000.
Next month I will share the distribution of NGOs in Haitian Departments.
Why is it of interest where an NGO is located in the U.S.? I have seen so many NGOs operate as if they are the only ones who have encountered the various problems one sees in Haiti. They throw their hands in the air and wonder how to solve it. I would suggest connecting with other NGOs to help you avoid creating the wheel again. Kobit is not just for Haitians. Perhaps you could share shipping and/or info with an NGO in your state. Ask them what their compensation is for employees in the States and in Haiti. This is helpful to make sure employees are getting fairly compensated. Sometimes there is this underlying feeling of competition among the NGOs - as if there are just not enough resources to go around. Donors to most of the small and medium sized NGOs are local to the headquarters. If you are on opposite sides of the state you are unlikely to be competing for the same donors. So help each other!
The small print about the database. It is incomplete because it is only myself working on this (may change TBD). It is designed mainly to connect NGOs to each other physically. The additional details are to find similars. It is not a precise picture of the sector at any one time. It is still useful for general comparisons, particularly for size. I use contributions as a proxy for size. The most common size of an educational NGO in Haiti is $250, 000/ year. (Most are religious and do not receive grants.)
As for finding the NGOs, I used several means: those mentioned in news articles, journal articles, and social media. I also queried the IRS website and Pro Publica for NGOs that used the term Haiti (school, education, or orphanage? I definitely missed some. I didn’t query for each state - that is TBD.
The database is set up to be easily searchable. So feel free to play with it. If you see an organization that needs to be added let me know: winifred.flint@gmail.com
This newsletter brought to you by the LearningHaiti ecosystem set up to help educational NGOs in Haiti share resources.