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Poll

Smart Giving

Help those in need by supporting the best charities around.


Be confident in the charity you choose to support by using these tips:


Seek out charities with capable leaders that are reasonably paid:  Look for a charity with a passionate, visionary leader who has been in the job for a while. Make sure that leader is reasonably compensated and that the organization has a Compensation Committee that reviews the CEO’s performance and pay.


Look for financially strong charities: Organizations like Charity Navigator offer free charity ratings to learn about the financial health of charities that want your support.


Investigate the charity’s outcomes:  Learn about a charity’s accomplishments, goals and challenges by reviewing its website and/or talking with staff. They should be able to tell you about the quality and depth of their results as well as their capacity to continue to get these results, not just the number of activities or people served. This is critical step, after all, the charity’s ability to bring about long lasting and meaningful change in the lives of people and communities should be the key reason for your financial investment.


Check for evidence of questionable ethical practices: The best charities are transparent and accountable to the public. You should be able to see evidence of this in the information they provide on their web site. The media can also be a good watchdog in this area - providing reports on charities that have been found guilty of a crime or are under investigation.


Consider gifts to human services charities: Charities that provide direct services to people in need experienced the largest drop in donations last year. Yet these are the very charities that experience the largest increase in the demand for their services during a recession. If you are passionate about helping the less fortunate in your own community, consider supporting these groups so that they are not forced to cut programs and services.


Trust your charity: After you have thoroughly vetted a charity, trust it to spend your gift appropriately. Donors who designate their donations for specific activities hamstring charities and can become a roadblock in the charity’s quest to do good work. Charities need unrestricted gifts so that they have the flexibility to respond to changing demands for their services.


Find out more about Charities all over the country with the help of Charity Navigator.

Source: www.charitynavigator.org