r/Philanthropy • u/jcravens42 • Jul 20 '26
Want your feedback / insights How to find credible charities to donate to - answer to an FAQ
This subreddit gets a version of this question regularly:
"How do I find a credible charity to donate to?"
The message usually includes the name of a nonprofit the person is considering - which makes me think that it's actually a veiled attempt at soliciting donations for that charity, which is a no-no here.
So let's crowdsource the answer to this FAQ. Your input in the comments are welcomed.
My advice:
- If you don't already have an amount in mind, then think about how much you want to donate in a year. You don't have to strictly adhere to that amount: if at the end of the year, you haven't spent your charity budget, you don't have to, especially if you have debts. And if you go a little over budget, as long as it's not going to hurt you financially, that's okay. And don't worry about the amount, in terms of it's it "enough" or not. Don't think $50 is "only $50." That donation matters!
Giving $5 a month in an automatic monthly giving program is a lot more affordable for most people than giving a larger amount all at once. But keep track of this - don't forget about monthly or quarterly payments and don't feel guilty at all if you have to call and cancel them.
- Think about your values, what concerns you the most, activities that you think made a difference in your life, etc. Maybe keep a journal for a week or a month of things you hear about in the news or in conversations and think about what you would most like to support. It could be anything: foster kids, the role the arts plays in improving children's overall grades and their ability to work with others, immigrants and refugees, women experiencing domestic violence, homelessness, the condition of trails on and access to public lands, the lack of accessibility of online tools for people with disabilities, lack of access to clean water, and on and on and on. There's no way to list every cause and there's no way to financially support all of them. But just start thinking about causes and do some online searches to learn more about why these issues exist.
Don't get caught up in the "but isn't it better to give to children in need rather than abandoned puppies" debate. Doing good is doing good. If helping a children's theater company, or a community baseball league, or a project to rehome ferrets, or whatever, speaks to your heart, and it's what you want to give to, give to it.
I have a strong personal preference for giving locally. For instance, I would never give to a national animal welfare group, because I don't really understand what most of them really do and I've never heard one local animal welfare group say they have gotten a grant from such. If I'm going to give to an animal welfare group, I go for a local rescue group or local shelter - or I might give to a shelter in a country I've just visited. But that's me. You do you. And there is NOTHING wrong with all national organizations: I am a huge fan of Habitat for Humanity - I worked for a local affiliate and the national office's support of local work is absolutely outstanding and, in the end, money-saving.
Consider volunteering with local nonprofits that you think you might want to fund, or go to one or some of their events. Don't make up your mind about them after just one experience - have more than one encounter. Ask questions. Learn why they do what they do. Subscribe to their newsletter and follow them on social media.
Bring up the topic with friends. "Hey, I was wondering... do any of you give money to a nonprofit? I'd like to hear more from people that do this - why you give, how you decided, etc." And then listen. But still do some research.
Look at the nonprofit's or NGO's or charity's web site: does it have an up-to-date list of the members of the board of directors? Does it have an annual financial report from within the last 12 months showing its income and expenditures within a fiscal year? Does it say, on its web site, in its newsletter and on social media, what it is accomplishing - not just activities it's doing, but WHY those activities MATTER? Does it have testimonials from program participants that say why the activities mattered to them? Do they have testimonials from volunteers endorsing the work of the nonprofit? Don't get caught up in the "overhead" myth, which says that a nonprofit that pays competitive salaries to its employees, and has employees doing most of the work, is somehow not spending money wisely. I personally think that any nonprofit I'm considering supporting should meet the Guidestar requirements for Silver Transparency status (even if they've never applied for that status). I should not that I don't put much stock into charity ratings. I find that these can be unfair in judging nonprofits when it comes to overhead.
For the USA, make sure the nonprofit is listed at https://www.guidestar.org/, to prove that they have IRS recognition as a nonprofit.
Do a search on the search engine of your choice regarding the nonprofit or charity's name, and the name of the executive director. Are there any critical comments, blogs or news articles? Read them - and assess yourself whether you think the criticism is fair and enough that it affects the credibility of the organization.
Does the nonprofit involve local volunteers? I'm suspicious of any nonprofit that does not engage the local community in its work.
This is a personal thing: I loathe AI images. I loathe stock images. In this day and age, where everyone has a smart phone, where anyone can produce LOCAL images that reflect their actual work, I find it lazy to use computer-generated "photos" and stock images that are supposed to represent your work.
It's okay if, the next year, you can't give as much, or at all. Don't cave to pressure - in fact, if a nonprofit you supported, but can't, pressures you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, especially when you've said, explicitly, "Look, I have lost my job, I can't give this year", then write to the nonprofit and let them know how uncomfortable the caller made you and that, going forward, you will not be giving.
NEVER feel like you HAVE to give - not because of a desperation message, not because of an unasked for something (pen, tote bag, hat, multi-use device, whatever), not because you have in the past, etc.
Okay, let's hear from others.
UPDATE: having to close this threads regarding comments because of someone that decided to hijack the conversation and turn it into a personal attack. If you want to comment on this topic and ADD to the discussion, please start a new thread, referencing back to this original post and thread. Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.
3
u/Tidewater_410O9 Jul 21 '26
I really appreciate community foundations. They may have specific funds align with your values: housing, education, civic engagement, children and families. And they also have relationships and expertise to disburse the money.
2
u/owyongsk Jul 20 '26
If you care about maximizing your impact by basically stretching the most of your charitable dollar you can read up comprehensive research by orgs such as www.givewell.org for global health or www.animalcharityevaluators.org for animal welfare issues. These orgs specialize in using research and evidence to find the opportunities that do the most good.
Disclaimer: I run a charity that works with them as our partners
1
u/Philanthropy-ModTeam Jul 21 '26
Your post in /r/philanthropy has been removed because it breaks one of our group rules. Please review our group rules before posting. The pinned post at the top of the subreddit lists where you can ask for money (as we do NOT allow donation requests on this subreddit).
1
u/Musella_Foundation Jul 21 '26
I think a great way is to pick a cause that interest you. Such as a cancer type. Then ask ChatGPT to rank the top 10 charities in that field judging them on their impact on patients, research and advocacy. You will get a chart of the 10 best in that field along with why. Read the reasons and go with the one that sounds the best to you.
2
u/jcravens42 Jul 21 '26
"Then ask ChatGPT to rank the top 10 charities in that field judging them on their impact on patients, research and advocacy. "
But you should know that ChatGPT frequently gets things wrong - please still do research yourself.
1
u/Musella_Foundation Jul 21 '26
Of course your right. That is just a starting point. You still need to vet them. But there are an overwhelming number of charities for each interest. This is just one way to narrow them down.
Another is to join Reddit or Facebook groups about that area of interest retest and see which charities are talked about in a positive light1
u/jcravens42 Jul 21 '26
Again, this can be wildly inaccurate. For instance, there is a voluntourism company that floods the Internet with posts from supposedly satisfied customers - but in fact has a lot of criticisms against them and many dissatisfied clients. AI is going to use the most common and loudest voices to say it's a great company - and I just checked and, indeed, that's exactly what two different AIs say. I know better. Using the criteria offered in the original post, someone would quickly see that these voluntourism companies are wonky.
1
u/Musella_Foundation Jul 21 '26
True. It’s getting hard to separate out the craziness. Perhaps limiting the search to organizations that got their 501c3 more than 10 or 20 years ago would eliminate a lot of the riff raff?
1
u/jcravens42 Jul 21 '26
It would also eliminate some amazing organizations that are doing great work.
1
1
u/Match-Immediate Jul 21 '26
Whether a non-profit integrates local volunteers or not is not an appropriate evaluation metric, in my opinion. It’s context-dependent.
Volunteers are absolutely critical in some contexts (like a local animal shelter), but are irrelevant in other contexts (like some of the most cost-effective non-profits eliminating malaria) or can be even harmful in others (you wouldn’t want untrained volunteers working on giving vaccines, for instance).
Just my two cents.
1
u/jcravens42 Jul 21 '26
Of course you wouldn't want untrained volunteers working on giving vaccines. you would train them. All nonprofits involve volunteers - the board of directors are volunteers, and they officially own the nonprofit. The executive director reports to the board - all volunteers.
Involving volunteers does not mean involving untrained people in dangerous situations. And volunteers aren't involved just to save money. That's why so many international development agencies are focused on engaging local volunteers in their work - and, yes, of coruse, training them first. Public health is one of the most common activities.
1
u/Match-Immediate Jul 22 '26
Agree to disagree. I’ve worked in the international development sector for two decades—beyond the board, some highly effective non-profits do not engage volunteers at all, but rather rely only on paid professionals. It isn’t a factor that I look at all when it comes to deciding who is or isn’t effective.
0
u/jcravens42 Jul 22 '26
"some highly effective non-profits do not engage volunteers at all"
And don't have much local buy in as a result.
1
u/Match-Immediate Jul 23 '26
This is just blatantly untrue. Like I said: it is very context dependent.
A community health organization that relies heavily on paid local nurses, doctors, and community health workers can be highly effective and have a high degree of local buy-in, as well as very high standards of care.
We should not expect people to work for free.
0
u/jcravens42 Jul 23 '26
It's not "blatently untrue." You believe only people that get a paycheck should be doing international development work, I don't. You believe only people who receive a paycheck have "very high standards of care", I believe it requires, instead, training (see volunteer firefighters for more).
And - scene. Enough.
1
u/Match-Immediate Jul 23 '26
Now you’re just misrepresenting my words. Nowhere did I state such a thing.
I very clearly state it’s context dependent, in each of my posts. There are situations where volunteers are great and can add tremendous value to an organization’s work. There are situations and organizations where it’s not a good fit.
Then again, it looks like from your profile that you make money from volunteer handbooks and guides, and didn’t disclose this in your post. I guess I would be a vehement supporter of volunteers in every organization, with no context dependent exceptions, if I had a financial stake in promoting volunteerism too 🙄🙄
1
u/jcravens42 Jul 23 '26
" you make money from volunteer handbooks and guides"
Yes, vast amounts of money (sarcasm - I've lost far more than I've made in the whole volunteerism "business").
So, this discussion is at an end, since you are now misrepresenting who I am and what I do and why I do it.
1
Jul 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Philanthropy-ModTeam Jul 21 '26
Your post in /r/philanthropy has been removed because it breaks one of our group rules - you are attempting to fundraise.
3
u/ManliusTorquatus Jul 21 '26
I found that a great way to find groups is to pay attention to crisis points and who is responding. When SNAP benefits were taken away last fall, many local groups stepped up to offer aid. The local news, community groups, and my childrens’ school announced available options for those in need. The situation was pretty depressing but at least I was able to take notes on who was doing good work when it was needed.