Effective Donating

Hearts & Minds - Information for Change^SM

Effective Donating
To help you give wisely

Listed Below:

American Institute of Philanthropy
Charity Navigator
Guidestar

Philanthropic Advisory Service (PAS) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus
US. Dept of the Treasury - avoid supporting terrorists

American Institute of Philanthropy
3450 North Lake Shore Drive
Suite 2802E
P.O. Box 578460
Chicago, Illinois 60657
Phone: 1-773-529-2300
Fax: 1-773-529-0024
E-mail: aipmail@charitywatch.org
Website: www.charitywatch.org
     The mission of the AIP, a nonprofit charity watchdog and information service, is to maximize the effectiveness of every dollar contributed to charity by providing donors with information they need to make more informed giving decisions.
     The AIP Guide lists charities by categories along with a financial analysis of the organization represented by a letter grade ranging from A to F. One can also find a list of the top-rated charities from its online website.
     This site informs the public of the quality of certain charities. It has a grading system as to how effective an organization is with its donations as well as tips on how to donate safely. -EL
     I agree. This website and organization provide a wealth of information on how effective charity organizations are and how best to donate your money. -KHK
     In my opinion, the most thorough and outspoken of the charity watchdogs. - Bill Blackman, president, Hearts & Minds
     Provides tips on how to donate wisely and not be unnecessarily solicited for money periodically. Also offers details on organizations and a rating for their use of your donated money. -LOL
    This website provides links to other charity watchdog groups if you could not find what you were looking for in their site. Very precise. -MAP                                              .     This organization provide to give information about the wise giving of the donors. It is important to know where and who the donation comes, a lot of people doesn't know . - MDN

Charity Navigator
1200 MacArthur Boulevard
Second Floor
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
Phone: 1-201-818-1288
Fax: 1-201-818-4694
E-mail: kwaide@charitynavigator.org
Website: www.charitynavigator.org
     Works to guide intelligent giving. Helps charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on more than eleven hundred charities and by evaluating the financial health of each of these charities.
     Extensive website that features a vast amount of information. Website is designed well, but, due to the complexity of the information presented, it takes some time to research a particular organization. -KHK
     The site gives an extensive analysis on each of the charities it evaluates. From its ratings to its graphs, the site is easy to understand and very helpful in finding the right organization for your donation. -MKK
     On the Questions to Ask page, provides great information on what questions to ask an organization before donating. Also explains the great tax advantages of donating to charities. -LOL
     Find a charity you can thrust...(home page of the website)... is not so easy to choose where give a donation...animals, environment, international...etc..... This association seems to be ready to follow the right way and help a donors to look at the help them select. - MDN

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Guidestar
4801 Courthouse Street
Suite 220
Williamsburg, VA 23188
Phone: 1-757-229-4631
Website: www.guidestar.org
     Database of more than 850,000 IRS-recognized nonprofit organizations. It's free.
     The site provides tips and an advanced search engine to make it easy to donate to a charity that is important to you. -MKK
     Free registration to the site gets you extensive information on any nonprofit organization, such as the address, program descriptions, goals and results, and recent 990 IRS tax forms. -LOL

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National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
2001 S Street NW, Suite 620
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 1-202-387-9177
Fax: 1-202-332-5084
E-mail: info@ncrp.org
Website: www.ncrp.org
     "Mission is to make philanthropy more responsive to people with the least wealth and opportunity, more relevant to critical public needs, and more open and accountable to all, to create a more just and democratic society. Conducts action research, provides technical assistance to nonprofits, and engages in policy advocacy. Its reform activism targets foundations, corporations, individual donors and workplace fund-raising."
     Through publications and research projects, hopes to create new and better philanthropy by using education and reform. It also provides help to organizations with grant-writing and other tasks. This site encourages the public to perform philanthropic deeds and houses many links concerning philanthropic organizations. -EL
     I agree. Seeks to hold charitable organizations accountable for the manner in which they use their funds. -KHK
     Seeking to change aspects of philanthropy by conducting research explaining where these organizations are going wrong. Does not specifically mention donating, but the link between the issues is strong. -LOL

Philanthropic Advisory Service
of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.
4200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 800
Arlington, VA, 22203
Phone: 1-703-276-0100
Fax: 1-703-525-8277
E-mail: info@bbb.org
Website: www.give.org
     Evaluates charities based on financial responsibility. Covers major national groups. Collects and distributes information on hundreds of nonprofit organizations that solicit nationally or have national or international program services. Provides donors and potential donors with an impartial source for information on nationally soliciting charitable organizations and for advice on sound giving practices.
     As a council of the Better Business Bureaus, PAS researches the financial responsibility of nonprofit organizations. This information is distributed to the public for better-informed giving. PAS also publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled "Give...But Give Wisely^®", in which information and articles about more than 200 charities are given.
     PAS provides reports on organizations in hopes of giving the public better judgment as to where it would like to donate. Also includes a guide to charitable giving. -EL
     I agree. Very thorough listing of organizations and the financial records of each. -KHK
     Very extensive list of information for huge number of organizations. Rates organizations based on specific standards and clearly states in which area they are lacking. -LOL

US Dept. of the Treasury
Provides information to help you avoid giving to charities linked to terrorism.

Most recent update by Marco A. P., previous update by Lucy Chen and Lindita Lika (LOL). Originally compiled by Angelo Moscarello, Contributing Editor and Designer,
and Bill Blackman, Editor, Hearts and Minds.

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