Good Sources of Charity Information
Hi folks,
Been a while since I've posted in here. Seems I've missed some good threads. Anyway, since it "tis the season" I have been contemplating which charities to give my annual donations to, and the thought occured to me that there has to be a non-profit or government organization of some kind which rates charities.
One of the organizations I am considering is Doctors without Borders (which apparently won a Nobel prize a few years back, has been featured in the NYT, and which gives 80+% of any donation directly to life-saving supplies). Obviously they try to supply a lot of "proof of legitimacy" otherwise I wouldn't know all the above.
But regardless of which charity, how do you make *sure* the brochures and such that you get are legit? Some seem more plausible than others but I figure it would be nice to have a place you can go to look up the more reputable ones?
Is there a "JD Power" for Charities?
[ 12-11-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
Been a while since I've posted in here. Seems I've missed some good threads. Anyway, since it "tis the season" I have been contemplating which charities to give my annual donations to, and the thought occured to me that there has to be a non-profit or government organization of some kind which rates charities.
One of the organizations I am considering is Doctors without Borders (which apparently won a Nobel prize a few years back, has been featured in the NYT, and which gives 80+% of any donation directly to life-saving supplies). Obviously they try to supply a lot of "proof of legitimacy" otherwise I wouldn't know all the above.
But regardless of which charity, how do you make *sure* the brochures and such that you get are legit? Some seem more plausible than others but I figure it would be nice to have a place you can go to look up the more reputable ones?
Is there a "JD Power" for Charities?
[ 12-11-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
Comments
Was it something I said? I don't know if you guys are reading me the wrong way. I'm just trying to find resources for identifying "reliable" charities, since we've all heard stories about those which basically take 50% or more of your money and place it directly in the pockets of those running the charity. Not good.
And since I be in financial tough times, I want to make sure every dollar I give goes to the people who need it as much as possible.
Or, is it just that none of you has the faintest clue how to evaluate one charity from the next?
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
I don't know of any sites. I don't know if I'd trust them anyway? I checked for government sites, but came up lacking.
I'd certainly agree that Médecins Sans Frontières is a very worthy cause. A percentage of my salary goes to charities every year, and MSF is one of them.
I figured DSF was a good cause just based on their literature and the fact that I'd heard of them previously. But being the paranoid bastard that I am, I'm not above checking into things.
Guess I'll go ahead and mail that check, and hold back on the other one for now. Here's a question: can any organization get order those official "Business Reply Mail" Envelopes - the ones with "No Postage Necessary...." written on them? They're obviously issued by the government - any idea if the government does background checks before issuing such envelopes? Probably not, but it's worth asking.
[ 12-16-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
[ 12-17-2002: Message edited by: Mars ]</p>