How to Find a Trustworthy Charity

By Maria Scinto, eHow Contributor

Whether you'd like to donate to a charitable organization out of the goodness of your heart or because you need an income tax deduction (or a little bit of both), you want to make sure you choose a trustworthy one. You want one where you can be sure that your money will actually get where it's supposed to be going. It isn't always easy to do this, however, as there are always scam artists out there trying to make a quick buck off of other people's good intentions. Take some steps to make sure that your next charitable contribution goes to help the people, animals, land trusts, that need it rather than lining the pockets of the undeserving.

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Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet access
• Check or credit card

1. • 1
     Ask the charity's contact person if your donation is tax deductible, even if you are not interested in taking the deduction. If the organization is a true charity, the deduction will most likely be tax deductible. If the outfit is a scam or a for-profit company posing as a charity, then, it won't be tax deductible. There may be some legitimate causes that for some reason do not have that tax status, but this should be a red flag that will tell you you need to collect more information about the organization before agreeing to make a donation.
     
   • 2
     Inquire as to what percentage of your donation will go towards the actual cause you're hoping to support. At least 60% of all funds raised should go towards the stated cause. If not, the overhead for this organization is way too high, which means that this "charity" is either remarkably inefficient or that someone, somewhere in this so-called nonprofit organization is actually making quite a hefty profit.
     
   • 3
     Never agree to make a donation over the phone, unless you are the one who placed the call to the charitable organization. Telemarketers are frequently employed by scammers and fake charities.
     
   • 4
     Do your homework. Check out not only the website of the charity itself, but also any press coverage it's received. If it is a legitimate organization, it should have received a certain amount of media coverage, and the media may indicate whether or not this charity is getting the job done in the manner it claims.
     
   • 5
     Pick a local charity if possible. That way you can see for yourself firsthand evidence of your organization at work. You can even choose to bypass the middleman and make a direct donation to your local church, soup kitchen, animal shelter, public school, library, or other organization in need of a little financial help.
     
   • 6
     Search the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance website for any mention, positive or negative, of your charity. You can also check with other watchdog groups monitoring charities, groups such as the American Institute of Philanthropy, Charity Navigator, and Guidestar. Guidestar posts copies of the federal tax returns filed by each charity.

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