Donating money toward a cause you believe in feels great, doesn’t it?
Before you hit send, look into how the charity is rated. Not every tax-exempt organization is what you might consider truly charitable.
charitynavigator.org: The site uses a 0-4 star rating system on the nearly 200,000 charities in its database, evaluating financial health and accountability. It’s free to use.
charitywatch.org: More than 670,000 charities are evaluated on things like how much is spent on administrative costs and given an overall grade on an A-plus to F scale. You can preview a few charities for free before registering.
givewell.org: Their list of top-rated charities is updated every year and the site is free to use. GiveWell says its goal is to highlight charities that “can save or improve the greatest number of lives per dollar donated.”
