What are the ways that you check out a charity before donating? I have been asked to donate to a few that don’t show up on things like Charity Navigator or Charity Watch but one is listed on global giving, but with no reviews. I like to know that a charity/fund is reputable and spends a low percentage of its income on fund raising. I know some charities argue that by spending more on marketing they have been able to raise more overall, but that would not apply to these small funds. What do you do to choose wisely?
It can be hard if a friend is asking, and I’ll buy raffle tickets or something small just to be neighborly. But for any real donation I like to know who is on staff and what their qualifications are, whether they have a board of directors, and how much of their money goes to overhead, etc. For real fun you can look at their form 990, but that’s probably overkill. I’d have to know the founders of a “start up” pretty well to contribute.
Many charities are started with kind intentions but poor execution. Those aren’t ones I support, and “we’ve already made commitments for our donations this year” is our response to requests.
If I have to work that hard for info, then I would not be donating at all. You can just decline, it is a good habit.
Recently bought raffle tickets from a coworker for a cancer charity. Shortly after that, he decided a group of us should take out an ad in the charity’s annual dinner program in honor of a retiring boss. I had other plans for marking the retirement so when I said “that’s nice” this coworker took it to mean I would participate. I very much get the need to get along in the workplace so coughed up the contribution when I was asked for it. That prompted me to look up the 990 and I found that the charity returned 60% of their collected donations to various cancer charities. A local hospital was the largest beneficiary, but they also gave $100 to St. Jude’s.
I was furious when I learned this but have said nothing. If asked to buy raffle tickets next year, I will mention the 990 and that I don’t find it to be a good value for charitable giving. I learned other things about this charity that are a disgrace. Legal, but disgraceful.
I will stick to major, known charities (St. Jude’s, American Cancer Society, etc.) or local fire, food pantries, churches, etc. I don’t know why there are any charities in the middle - neither local nor national. They are pass through organizations that just skim off money, IMO.
I used to sit down in December and write a bunch of checks for $25 and $50. I don’t do that any more. A few years ago my wife and I decided to give more money to fewer charities, and to focus our giving locally. So we give a relatively large amount of money to one local charity. We know what they do, their budget, and we have visited them. Other donations are made to local organizations that we know well.