NVCA Today

Austin’s entrepreneurial community, led by Austin Venture’s Kim Hughes and Phil Siegel, quickly responded to the devastating earthquake that occurred in January by partnering with the Entrepreneurs Foundation to create the HelpHaiti fund and challenge startup companies to donate to Haitian relief by matching contributions dollar for dollar. Austin-based Silicon Laboratories and philanthropists and entrepreneurs Philip and Donna Berber, Tom and Lynn Meredith, and Dave and Isabella Welland pledged additional monies to create the $600 thousand fund and joined Austin Venture’s Phil Siegel on a committee formed to strategically disburse funds into Haiti. The $600 thousand fund spurred an additional 550 HelpHaiti donations from technology companies and their employees, ranging in size from $1 to over $20,000.

The committee decided to focus the fund’s monies around six basic needs: immediate emergency assistance, food and water, shelter (temporary housing), health and sanitation, education and schools, and economic empowerment. The HelpHaiti immediately release $250 thousand to Partners in Health and Concern Worldwide for emergency aid. An additional $200 thousand was used to create a match challenge funds for organizations that have worked closely with Haitians for year: Partners in Health, Concern Worldwide and Catholic Relief Services and Fonkoze. These match grants, combined with the HelpHaiti fund, account for over $1.3 million in Haitian relief aid.