“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank

Charity begins from the heart, when giving no longer feels like a burden and there is always enough left to spread the love and generosity, especially to people who are in dire need of help. Charitable contributions don’t necessarily have to be money, there are many other ways to spread happiness. Donating blood, registering as a bone marrow donor or organ donor are just some of the ways in which you can help out people in need.

Donating clothes, necessities, and other things which might be needed for a cold winter will go a long way. Today, you will find a number of charities to donate to. However, this will also be your biggest concern as you cannot possibly verify all of them before donating.

You might be interested in making a sizeable donation but are not sure as to which are the best charities to donate to. Asking yourself the following questions might help you to narrow down your options for finding charities to donate to.

Do you understand the charity’s mission?

• Charitable institutions and not for profit organizations all will have a specific mission and vision when it comes to forming the said organization.
• But you have to to be able to distinguish the legitimate ones by reading and understanding their mission and vision and whether it pertains to what they have been doing previously.
• Information about the nonprofit’s initiatives, benchmarks achieved by the organization, how many people have benefitted from the non-profit or charities program directives.
• You can also contact the program managers to find out more about the same before you decide to contribute.

How can you verify charities?

• There is a very simple way to verify charities and ensure that all charitable receipts are being put to good use and only for charitable purposes.
• The top charities you want to donate to must have been granted a sec 501(c)(3) status by the internal revenue service. The status will ensure that all donations received will be used for charitable purposes only and that gifts made to the nonprofit organization are tax deductible.
• The charitable institution is also required to make all financial information public, and there are rules concerning how much can be spent.
• This verification will help you gain more confidence to give a sizeable donation to be used for the greater good.

Does the charity have a particular spending ratio?

• Maintaining any nonprofit organization is a monumental task, with so many overheads and administrative costs involved to carry on the good deed.
• Non-profit organizations and charitable institutions will always rely on sizeable donations to manage expenses and still have enough left to take care of infrastructure and workforce.
• Efficient organizations will be able to spend at least 3/4th of whatever donations they get. The remainder is generally used to maintain the organization.

What can you learn from their management policies?

• The accounts of any organization will be able to give you more insight into how much money comes in and from where exactly.
• If the organization is open and forthcoming about amounts received or spent, you needn’t worry much.
• The management of the organization also plays a key role owing to its governing bodies which include important and prominent people connected to the charity to ensure accountability for actions and transparency in its policies.
• You can find out more about these non-profit organizations and decide which charities to donate to, for future purposes.

These are the deciding factors for you while narrowing down from the long list of deserving charities to donate to.