What Are The Best Charities To Donate To

The Biggest or Most Well-Known Charities Aren’t Necessarily The Best

You’ve heard the expression that bigger is better right? It’s crazy to assume that this applies to everything though, and when it comes to picking a charity to donate to- that thought process could be dead wrong. Just because the organization may be one of the more well-known, and bigger names doesn’t necessarily mean that it falls into line with everything you think your charity should do.

The big question prior to making any charitable contributions is…

How do I know which charities are the best and the best ones for my business to invest in?

Researching charities before setting your business up to contribute to them is very important. After you have done your research and picked one that’s a fit for you and your ideals it’s a good idea to do an annual review of the charity to make sure that they are still “in tune” with everything you support and believe they should be doing.

Charitable giving when done without care is just wasted time, money and effort on the part of the giver. No one wants to find out that the charity they have been supporting utilizes a large percentage of their monetary donations in an effort to get more donations instead of actually using them for the intended recipient.

Keeping that in mind, let’s dive into deciphering which charity/charities are the best fit for your business. Start out will small thinking here. What is something you think is a worthwhile cause? An area of need that you feel should be addressed? Chances are very high that there is already an organization designed to support this cause. It could be finding homes for animals, research for medical illnesses, providing financial aid for the family members that are looking at expensive medical treatments, or supporting local homeless shelters. There are so many options to choose from- so finding something that lines up with what you believe needs more help shouldn’t be too tricky.

Some of the criteria to use when looking for a good charity to support:

• Make sure that the charity is registered as a tax-exempt organization by the IRS. This is especially important because it means that these charities actually get to keep the money that comes in and use it towards its designated purpose instead of being taxed for the donation and essentially losing a percentage of the resources that would be best used for their mission. These are the ones that you want to give your money to.

• Checking out the charity’s website and financial statements. This will give you a great idea of what they are using the donations for so you will feel confident in your decision to support them.

• Researching the charity’s performance with the help of third-party assessment groups. These groups can’t be “paid” for their opinion – so you know their research is actually based on each organization and what they do to help the cause they are organized for.Find out more in our blog How Supporting Charities Benefits Small Businesses

• Does the charity line up with what you support and believe? Remember supporting this charity will tie back into your business and be a reflection of you as the business owner.

We’ve done some research while trying to keep in mind the key points mentioned above and share answers to the questions we had below.

What Are The Best Charities For Animals?

What Are The Best Christian Charities?

Which Are The Best Environmental Charities?

What Are The Best Charities For Women?

What Are The Best Charities For Veterans?

We also noticed that a lot of top Healthy and Beauty industry businesses were found to support charities like these:

• The Sassy Carmen Foundation – mission for Pediatric Cancer
• UNISEF
• Rain Forest Action Network
• Feeding America Food Banks
• American Civil Liberties Union
• The Pink Agenda and Cancer Awareness Month

At this point you may be thinking- “Wow! Information overload!” This is just a small sampling of a few categories of interest. Trust me, even I got a little lost browsing and investigating the list! These are ultimately just ideas to help you in the task of choosing a worthy charity to support.

Maybe you aren’t overly impressed by this list at all. Maybe you are wondering, “What about the charities in my area specifically?” These are probably all wonderful organizations but what helps make the charitable giving process so impactful for you and the charity is the familiarity; the ability to see exactly who you are helping.

So how do you find the best local charities?

Aside from doing an Internet search along the lines of charities near me XX (town and state name), it may be as simple as dialing up a local church or school. A lot of churches house a food bank or help support local ones. These churches and schools may even have local organizations that meet within their buildings that are always looking for help (monetary or otherwise).

Sometimes just getting a name from a local supporter can help you get moving in the right direction. Some of the most reliable sources for verifying charities as well as ranking their effectiveness and overall score (based on how they use the funds they bring in) that we utilized to help compile this list today include:

Charity Watch

Charity Navigator 

Consumer Reports 

When considering which charities you will support, it’s also important to know which charities to avoid and how to identify them. To make this easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of the Worst Charities To Donate To and what to watch out for.