Beware When Donating To Charity

This is the end of the year and many will look to make charitable donations. One important step is to look at how the charity is managed. The key step is to check out Charity Navigator. They rate the effectiveness of the management of funds by rating the charities by giving them stars. The higher the score means more of the money is going towards actual work.

Many companies send out requests for money and have great advertising and if a charity spends more than 75-80% in total expenses they are not managing their money well. You go to Charity Navigator and search for the charity you’re looking for or the type of charity you’re looking for and they will show a list. Look at the score, and all the info available on the charity.  Personally, I only give money to charities with four stars.

This year I’m adding a new charity to my list, one that services homeless veterans. I’m combing through Charity Navigator to find a charity that spends its money on the ground directly helping vets. So far all I have found are advocacy groups or ones with less than four stars. I have to keep searching so we can make our donations this week.

Be sure your money is being spent on services, not a highly paid executive and team who sends out letters asking for money.

Happy New Year!

Melinda