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Best Charities to Donate To

Not all nonprofits are created equal. Before giving your money to a seemingly worthy cause, it’s worth taking a few minutes to confirm that the charity you’ve chosen will use that money well. Bottom Line Personal asked Charity Navigator’s Michael Thatcher how to quickly and effectively evaluate charities…and for his list of charities that do an especially good job of doing good in some popular categories.

Four Steps to Smarter Giving

Charitable giving often begins with an emotional appeal—we’re told that someone or something is in dire need…won’t we please help? But in these situations, it’s worth balancing the natural desire to do one’s part with a dose of caution. The best way to truly help those in need is to give to an organization that will put our contribution to good use. Here’s a simple four-step strategy for vetting a charity…

1. Confirm mission alignment. Just because someone soliciting donations for a charity cites a particular problem does not guarantee that a meaningful share of the money given to that charity goes toward solving that problem. Similarly, just because an organization is affiliated with a charitable category that matters deeply to a donor doesn’t guarantee that the charity does work that’s in line with the donor’s priorities. Example: Animal lovers often give money to animal-welfare charities—but some animal-welfare charities arrange for adoptions of dogs and cats…others tackle issues involving livestock welfare…and still others focus on the protection of wildlife habitats. Those are very different causes, and animal-welfare charities’ names don’t always make clear which causes they prioritize.

What to do: Visit the charity’s website and read its mission statement. A summary of a charity’s mission usually also can be found on charity evaluation websites such as CharityNavigator.org.

2. Confirm that the charity really is a charity. Sometimes people claiming to raise money for good causes aren’t actually affiliated with charities. Instead, they are outright scammers who simply pocket donations. Others truly are trying to raise money for a good cause, but since they are not affiliated with a charity, it can be difficult or impossible to confirm that the money they raise will be put to efficient use…or be deductible on your tax return.

What to do: Ask for confirmation that the organization raising money is a “501(c)(3)” nonprofit, and obtain its Employer Identification Number (EIN) and precise name. Many charities have similar names, so it’s important to get this exactly right to ensure you’re giving to the right organization. Someone raising money for a legitimate charity should be able to provide all of this information, and/or it should be easy to find it on a legitimate charity’s website.

To confirm that an organization is a charity: Enter the EIN into the IRS’s Tax-Exempt Organization Search tool.

Also: If the charity is legitimate, it almost certainly should be listed on CharityNavigator.org—nearly a quarter million charities currently are listed there.

Important: If you intend to claim your charitable gift as a tax deduction, confirm that the charity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, not a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Gifts to the latter—a form of nonprofit that’s allowed to do political lobbying—are not deductible.

3. Consider the nonprofit’s finances and accountability. Is your money going to an organization that effectively converts donations into results, with relatively little spent on employee salaries and other overhead? There are ways to evaluate this.

What to do: If you have the time and expertise to wade through a charity’s finances, peruse the Form 990s (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax) that it has filed in recent years with the IRS. Many charities make these tax forms available on their websites—they’re a great place to find details about what a charity does and where its money goes. If digging through tax filings isn’t up your alley, the rating tools provided by charity-rating websites offer a simple way to get a sense about whether a charity is well run.

4. Pay in a smart way. Giving a credit card, cash or a check to someone who says they are raising money for a charity increases the odds that your money will end up supporting a scammer rather than a good cause.

What to do: Locate the charity’s legitimate website, and make your donation directly through that site or by calling the phone number you find there. One way to ensure you’ve found a charity’s legitimate site and phone number, not a scammer’s imitation, is to use the links and phone numbers in a charity’s listing on a well-known charity-evaluation website.

Best Charities in 7 Popular Categories

The following scores by Charity Navigator are based on a range of factors correlated with efficiency and effectiveness, such as the charity’s overhead and expense ratios…whether its website provides potential donors with the information they need to evaluate the charity…the makeup of its board of directors…and how well the charity learns, improves and adapts in the face of changing circumstances. Example: When visiting food banks in person became difficult during the pandemic, an association of California food banks quickly pivoted to delivering food directly to people in need—that is a sign that the organization is focused on results and not bogged down by bureaucracy.

But keep in mind: The best charity for a donor is one that is well-aligned with a specific cause that matters deeply to that particular donor. Rather than choose a charity from a broad “best of” list, donors should first consider which causes they care about and then search for the best charities that address those causes.

Below are charities that achieve perfect 100% scores from Charity Navigator in seven popular giving categories. These are far from the only categories…and these scores are calculated based only on effectiveness and efficiency, with no judgments regarding the value of these organization’s causes…

Alzheimer’s-related charities…

A pair of regional charities—Long Island Alzheimer’s and Dementia Center (NY) and Senior Concerns (CA)—achieve 100% scores as well.

Helpful: If you’re wondering about the Alzheimer’s Association—arguably the best-known nonprofit in this category—it’s an excellent option as well, with a score of 97%.

Animal rescue charities…

Helpful: Humane World for Animals—the organization formerly known as the Humane Society of the US—has an impressive score of 98%.

Breast cancer charities…

Helpful: Two of the largest charities in this area achieve high scores, too—Breast Cancer Research Foundation earns a 98%…Susan G. Komen, 94%

Clean-water charities…

Best environmental-protection charities…

Helpful: Some of the best-known nonprofits in this category also rate very highly—Sierra Club Foundation earns a 97%…Nature Conservancy, 96%…and Natural Resources Defense Council, 99%.

Best humanitarian relief charities…

Helpful: Other well-known nonprofits that score well in this category include Doctors Without Borders, USA, at 96%…International Rescue Committee, 97%…and CARE USA, 95%.

Best veterans charities…

Helpful: The Wounded Warrior Project, among the largest charities in this sector, earns an impressive score of 99%.

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