Americans are wonderful when it comes to Philanthropy. We have a marvelous giving spirit to the point that we will give even if it is the last five dollars in our pocket. This is known as impulse giving. You see a guy on the street corner playing a saxophone and you drop cash in his hat to thank him for the tune. You see a box at check out that reads some local family had a fire and needs money to restart and you drop a few dollars to give them a leg up. So much for impulse giving, what do you do if you wish to make your giving more consistent? What are some of questions you should ask before you make charitable donations from every paycheck? I have found four basic questions you should ask before you give.  

1. Can the charity you’re interested in state a clear mission statement and focus of resources?  When I am looking at different organizations to donate I frequently call them up and ask to speak to a “officer” because I am a prospective donor and I wish to learn more about them. Usually before I hang up the organization has offered to send me literature in the mail and has given me a web site address to visit. Whenever I have spoken to an organization that didn’t communicate in a clear way to me, then I know that I need to find a different group.

2. What are the organization’s goals? Can your charity tell you future goals it has for their financial and physical resources? Are they going to buy a building and are looking for additional funds for that? Do they want to bring on additional staff? If so, why? Asking an organization to tell you what it is doing is EXACTLY what not-for-profits love doing. They enjoy the opportunity to discuss what they are about, where they are in their goals and their dreams for the future. 

3. May I have a copy of your annual report? This document will show you exactly how much money came into the organization and in what ways it was used. Most of my questions about how a charity uses my money can be answered by this document alone. If you don’t understand certain aspects of this document, call the charity. They will be happy to explain it to you. 

4. Do you trust your charity? As I was wandering around different web sites to find suitable charities, I ran across an article by Charity Navigator. This was one of their questions they had and I found their answer was perfect because it was totally in line with my own personal experience with charities: “Our research has shown that the overwhelming majority of charities in this country are not only responsible and honest, but also well-managed. So, give with confidence.” I will only add this. If at any time during your phone call with a charity officer you feel uncomfortable or something doesn’t sound quite right, then move on to a different group. Charities are in need of frequent and stable givers. If you don’t trust a charity then by all means, don’t support it. 

For more information on charitable giving and finding organizations worth your dollar, I recommend that you go to: www.charitynavigator.org.

Charity Navigator was created in 2001 when a philanthropic couple decided that an unbiased evaluator of charities was needed to assist financial donors. Their research data agree with my personal experience that the number of dishonest organizations is very, very small. Give the web site a look and see some of the great work people are doing to make their communities better.