I want to give to a charity, but I don't know which ones acutally use the money for what they say it is to be used.
2007-03-19 10:03:01 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Community Service
Check with your state secretary of state and state dept of consumer protection and see if the charity is registered and if there have been any complaints. Go to www.charitywatch.org a service of The American Institute of Philanthropy that rates charities. Look up your local Community Foundation and your local United Way in the phone book and call and ask them for info on the charity. Look up the IRS 990 records but be prepared for a lot of heavy reading.
The best way of all is to pick a charity that is local to your own area or is a local branch of a national or international organization that does something that you believe is important and volunteer a few hours. See how things are run, see how people are treated, ask for references in your own area, people you or your family would know who know this organization or maybe even are on its board. Then once you have checked them out and know they are straight and do something that touches your own heart put your money where your heart is
2007-03-20 01:18:29 · answer #1 · answered by A F 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The very best way to give to a charity is to give to United Way.
They distribute the monies they collect to all kinds of legitimate charities. When I worked for the Kidney Foundation we got about 70% of our funds from the United Way.
2007-03-19 17:07:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Personally, I research a charity at Charity Navigator before I donate to their cause. If you type "charity watchdog websites" or "charity rating websites" into your search engine, you will find other websites dedicated to analyzing and rating various charities to help you in your decision. It's important to give, but even more important to give wisely. Be careful, there are a lot of crooks out there in "charityland".
2007-03-20 08:30:46 · answer #3 · answered by the angry voter 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you live in the UK, check that the charity is registered with the Charities Commission
2007-03-19 17:12:29 · answer #4 · answered by Charlie Babbage 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries, and United way. All can be checked out with the Better Business Association, to see if any complaints have been filed against them.
2007-03-21 03:23:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is a regulating authority but the name of it escapes me now. Ask for an itemized report of where they spend their money.
2007-03-19 17:07:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can review a copy of their 990 on line (you should be able to). This should tell you alot.
2007-03-19 17:30:29 · answer #7 · answered by blonde4 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
all organizations have checks and balances in place...reporting false charitable practices is a possiblity.
2007-03-19 17:07:08 · answer #8 · answered by jmmevolve 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋