With record unemployment rates and an unforgiving economic climate buffeting the country, there are a lot more people who need help getting back on their feet than there used to be. The charities that have been there for them are so are overwhelmed by the numbers that have been stepping forward for help; and the endowments that they've been working on, have been shrinking to dangerously low levels. There are fewer big-ticket donors giving these days too and fundraisers don't really raise as much in funds. If you look at the demand that charities face at any given time, and if you use that as a yardstick to measure how the economy is doing, you'd think that this year was somewhat better than the last - desperate demand has leveled off. And yet, if people are doing much better, why isn't showing in the rate at which contributions are made? If anything, charity giving has fallen this year.
So what does this mean? Should you open your heart and your bank account to every opportunity to give? Actually, it could be the other way around. Any time you have a charity plea come your way, it would be wise to think things through. The charities are desperate now for a way to make up for what they have lost. There could be a considerable amount of misleading information that gets put out. If you are trying to beat the average in charity giving this year (Americans on average give 2% of what they make each year to charity), there are no easy ways to tell the genuinely philanthropic charities apart from the less than genuine.
The dishonest charities try very hard to disguise the way they spend the money you give them. If you think you could depend on some of the overseeing authorities that supervise these things, they really don't have their act together well enough to make a difference.
Here are some of the areas people usually pay attention to before including an organization's in their charity giving:
To begin with, most people want to make sure that what they give actually goes to charity programs, and not to funding their administration expenses. To know how your money gets spent, all you need to do is to ask for the charity's IRS form 990 that technically, is supposed to tell you how exactly your contributions are applied to solving real world problems. The bad ones don't actually fill those forms at all. But there are plenty that actually fill them with false information.
Does the fact that the IRS stays aware of charity contributions cheer you up a little bit? No need; while the IRS asks charities to fill up the forms with genuine information, it doesn't really check to verify. If you're really nervous, you can go over to the Wise Giving Alliance page on the Better Business Bureau website.
If you ever get telemarketers calling for a contribution, it's typically a bad idea. There's no telling who they represent and what exactly they do. And if you ever get a call for help the widows of slain policemen and firefighters, it's typically bogus; families of fallen heroes typically get some of the best compensation packages around. Everyone knows that it's easy to pull people's charity giving heartstrings when they use the good name and reputation of war veterans too. Somehow, patriotic causes attract a lot of charity scammers.
If you're looking for the best way to begin charity giving, go to the Philanthropy website's top 10 list. They have extremely high standards, and they care.