Charitable Giving: A Guide

Finding Charities to Donate To

Charitable giving can make more of an impact than the giver may realize. While the giver may think that his or her donation of $10 isn’t going to do much, it may be able to feed dozens of kids or provide school supplies for an entire community of children. If you are going to give to charity, how do you know which ones to give to?

Look for the 501c(3) Designation

A charity that has a 501c(3) designation means that the organization has been recognized as a charity by the government. This means that your donation could be tax deductible. In other words, giving to such a charity could enable you to help others while helping to lower your tax burden for the year. Looking for charities with such a designation is important as well because all of their financial records are public information. This means that you can see where the money goes once the charity receives it.

Find Out Who Solicits the Donations

If a professional solicitor calls and asks for a donation, you may be better off declining that offer. This is because an organization that uses a professional solicitor may have to pay that person a large fee for his or her services. Instead of giving $10 to needy children, you are going to give $1 to a needy child and $9 to pay the solicitor. Therefore, if you want to make the largest impact with your money, look for charities that give a large percentage of your money to those who need it.

Give Directly to Those Who Need It

If you aren’t satisfied with your options, you could give money, time or other items directly to those who need them. Instead of giving money to a third-party to build a school, you can help to build the school or give tools to builders who are going to help with the construction.

Giving to charity can be a great idea for those who are looking to make an impact in their community. If you want to donate to charity, you can go online or ask local churches what causes they are looking to help.