As I’m sure you know by now, Haiti has been ravaged by an earthquake, leaving hundreds dead or as-yet-un rescued from the rubble. Yesterday, the Port-au-Prince outpost of the United Nations, whose mission was to give aid to those already suffering, toppled and Haitians need our help more than ever.

To all those affected by this crisis, our hearts go out to you. If you are wondering how you can help from overseas, there are lots of charities who would be thrilled to get whatever you’re able to give — $5 dollars or $200…

Oh, and make sure to avoid the dubious charities that spring up whenever a disaster of this magnitude appears. Forbes has a helpful guide and CNN has a good guide of all of the charities working there by category.

Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres
Based in France, this charity sends out teams of doctors, nurses, and assistants to places that lack medical facilities. With hospitals collapses in Port-au-Prince and thousands of injured, the lack of medical aid is one of Haiti’s biggest problems right now. MSF has 800 medical staff already there who have set up field clinics. You can read their reports  here. Donate online with a few clicks.

Watch this YouTube teleconference video from Haiti, in which volunteers explain that all hospitals where they would have normally based their operations have been destroyed:

Mercy Corps

Maybe my favorite charity on this list for making sure every penny of your dollar goes toward aid, Mercy Corps only sent paid disaster relief experts to Haiti and there, hired local workers as volunteers — paying them from your contributions. It helps the group both economize on travel costs and stimulate the local economy. Donate to Mercy Corps directly here or set up a Personal Donor Page on the website, which will make it easy for your friends and family in your e-mail chain to lend a couple of bucks and see how that money accumulates.

World Vision

Having worked in Haiti for 30 years and with a staff of 370 planted there already, this US-based charity isn’t asking for extra money for volunteers. Your dollars go directly toward the purchase of life-saving supplies. Today at 5.30 p.m. (PST) they are rushing a shipment of 18 metric tons of lifesaving supplies to Haiti — including tents, clean water, and blankets.  Give any amount you feel comfortable with here.

Hope for Haiti’s Children

This Haiti-based charity is a Christian enterprise where volunteers donate their lives toward improving the health and education of Haitian children. While the orphanage they constructed survived the quake, the second and third stories of a school became rubble and they are still assessing the damage. Given the magnitude of this disaster they have shifted their mission toward providing basic aid for these children. Donate here and if you want to read something incredibly moving, read on-the-ground accounts from the organization’s program director on the site here.

American Red Cross
This US-based charity has pledged one million of its own funds, and in addition to their staff already in Haiti, sent six rigorously trained teams of disaster volunteers to Haiti, and opened its Panama warehouse of tarps, mosquito nets and cooking sets to 5,000 Haitian families. Donate online here with a few clicks or call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (with Spanish) or you can even text “Haiti” to 90999 to send an automatic $10 donation.