Obama donates Nobel prize money to charity

President Barack Obama plans to donate the $1.4m from his Nobel Peace Prize to helping students, veterans' families and survivors of Haiti's earthquake, among others, drawing attention to organisations he said "do extraordinary work".

Mr Obama is giving a total of $750,000 (€546,852) to six groups that help children go to college.

Fisher House, which provides housing for families with loved ones at Veterans Administration hospitals, will receive $250,000 (€182,284), the White House said.

The Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, for which two former presidents are raising money to rebuild earthquake-ravaged Haiti, will receive $200,000 (€145,827).

"These organisations do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need," Mr Obama said in a statement. "I'm proud to support their work."

Mr Obama was chosen for the Nobel award more for his aspirations and approach than his accomplishments thus far.

The Nobel committee honoured him for changing the tenor of international politics and for pursuing goals Mr Obama says will require worldwide effort, such as nuclear disarmament and reversing global warming.

Mr Obama himself was surprised by the award, and aides said at the time he would donate the cash prize to charity.

The Fisher House donation would help pay for three new homes at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Dover Air Force Base, where the bodies of Americans killed overseas are flown.