How do I find out how much of my money goes to actual services of a charity?

Question

Is there a website that will give me a list of good charities to give to. I hear a lot about how United Way and other charities spend too much on overhead. I want to know where I can see a list og good charities.

Answer 1

another link that looks promising...

Answer 2

www.charitynavigator.org is the most commonly used website to check how much money goes to actual services of a charity. This percentage is often referred to as the "supporting services" percentage.

As a general rule of thumb, an organization's supporting service percentage should be between 15 and 25%. I am sometimes just as concerned with an organization that has too low of a percentage as one that is too high. An organization with a low percentage can be an indicator of a weak administrative infra structure.

The last comment I would like to make is allocation of costs between program services and supporting services is not an exact science. There could be large differences from one organization to another on how costs are allocated, thus resulting in an inflated or deflated support service percentage.

Good luck and I commend you on taking the initiative to educate yourself before you give.

Answer 3

Overheads often exceed 40% of your actual donation.

http://www.charitablechoices.org offers some data on the efficiency of each charity.

Answer 4

http://www.give.org/reports/index.asp