Inspired by the school uniform she wore as a child in India, the New Yorker Sheena Matheiken has been wearing the same dress for 273 days in an attempt to raise money for the Akanksha Foundation, an Indian charty that supports children who would otherwise be unable to attend school.

She and her designer friend, Eliza Starbuck, made seven identical black dresses, and Ms. Matheiken has been wearing one every day with the addition of different accessories, with the goal of doing so for one full year. The Uniform Project, as they've dubbed it, has raised more than $53,000, or enough to keep 147 students in school, according to a widget on their Web site.

Ms. Matheiken calls the project "fashion philanthropy" on her Twitter page,...

Friday's star-studded telethon has raised more than $66-million so far for Haiti relief and recovery efforts - more than three times the amount raised via telethon after the 2004 Asian tsunamis.

So what's happening with all that money?

An "advisory committee" of nonprofit and Haiti experts has been formed that will, along with the Entertainment Industry Foundation, help decide that question.

The committee includes people like Diana Aviv, the head of Independent Sector; Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti; and Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

The committee members will meet this week to review information submitted by the charities already chosen by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, with help from the Bridgespan Group, to get a share of the telethon money.

The beneficiaries...

Friday's Hope for Haiti telethon had raised at least $58-million as of Saturday, according to MTV, which sponsored the event.

That far exceeds the $18.3-million raised via telethon for the 2004 Asian tsunamis.

And the total for Haiti will grow. The number released on Saturday does not include corporate gifts, iTunes sales, or very large individual donations.

Donations will be accepted for three months.

President Obama has signed into law legislation passed by Congress designed to encourage Americans to contribute cash to charities that help with emergency aid and rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

The new law allows taxpayers to make charitable contributions of cash to Haiti relief programs before March 1, 2010, and claim those contributions on their 2009 tax returns.

Without the new law, taxpayers would have to wait until next year's filing season to claim a tax deduction for such Haiti-related contributions.

The measure is similar to a law enacted in 2005 following the Asian tsunamis.

The new law allows taxpayers to use, as documentation of a contribution to a...

Last Friday, Doctors Without Borders began asking donors to make contributions to its general emergency relief fund rather than earmarking them for Haiti - and it appears that many contributors have heeded the group's call.

Since the January 12 earthquake, Doctors Without Borders has received $34-million for its relief efforts in Haiti and an additional $11.9-million for its Emergency Relief Fund.

"Our immediate response in the first hours following the disaster in Haiti was only possible because of private unrestricted donations from around the world received before the earthquake struck," the organization wrote in a statement on its donation page last week.

The group added: "These types of funds ensure that our medical teams can react to the Haiti emergency and humanitarian crises all over the world,...

Haiti Telethon Could Lead to a Spike in Fund Raising

Tonight's telethon for Haiti - which will air on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, MTV, and more than 30 other stations - could bring another windfall for a handful of charities operating in the earthquake-devastated nation. (See The Chronicle's tally of gifts to the earthquake relief effort.)

A 2004 telethon on NBC for tsunami relief raised $18.3-million, while one held in the wake of September 11 brought in more than $150-million.

"We wouldn't want to speculate," said Mark Jafar, a spokesperson for MTV, which is sponsoring the event. "But we're expecting a good audience and some awesome performances."

Money raised will first go to the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a...

Supporters of Mercy Corps have sprung into action since the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, raising more than $500,000 through their personal fund-raising pages - a significant portion of the $7.1-million the Portland, Ore., group has received for relief efforts.

Once someone has set up a fund-raising page on the Mercy Corps Web site, they can use e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook to ask their friends and family members to donate.

"It's been tremendously effective to have dedicated donors appealing directly to their social circles," Jeremy Barnicle, a vice president at Mercy Corps, said in written statement.

A recent article about a college president who will be paid a percentage of the money he helps raise has sparked an online debate among readers of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Under his contract, Eric J. Barron, the new president of Florida State University, will receive $100,000 for every $100-million the university raises in its campaign to secure $1-billion. That's on top of his $395,000 salary.

Because the bonus is tied to the amount of money raised, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and other professional organizations for charitable fund raisers say it's unethical. Such an incentive could, in the view of those organizations, lead fund raisers to put undue pressure on donors to win the bonus - instead of putting the donor's and the institution's wellbeing...

Very few donors who have made text-message gifts to the American Red Cross's Haiti relief efforts have chosen to receive follow-up messages from the group.

As of Thursday, the American Red Cross had received more than $26-million in text donations for the disaster in Haiti. Of the people who made those gifts, a little more than 5 percent gave the Red Cross permission to send them additional text messages.

After donors make a mobile contribution, they receive another message that asks if they would like to receive additional messages from the charity. If the donor says yes, the only piece of information that the organization receives is their cellphone number.

The percentage of text donors who give charities permission to follow up with them is "pretty low across the board" and varies widely from campaign to campaign, says Tony Aiello, chief executive of...

Haiti is such a big focus of donors' attention right now that even some charities not working in the earthquake-wracked country are trying to identify ways to help - and at the same time assist their own fund raising.

Invisible Children, a nonprofit group that works with children in Northern Uganda, is asking supporters to vote for the organization so it can win $1-million as part of JPMorgan Chase's Facebook competition.

If the group wins, it will give $100,000 to a charity providing aid to earthquake victims, Invisible Children told supporters in an e-mail today.

"A 30 second vote could give $100,000 to help Haiti and Invisible Children," the charity says on its Web site.

Have you seen other creative examples of charities trying to piggyback off of the Haiti attention? What do you think of the strategy?