Determining Which Organizations are Worthy of Your Contributions

Americans by and large are charitable when it comes to donating funds to causes that mean a lot to them. This is especially true in the month of December where Americans donate approximately 30% of all the annual donations collected. (https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/) With almost one-third of annual contributions to nonprofit organizations made this month, do you know who to donate to? If not, you’re in luck! This article will go over how to determine which nonprofit would be best suited for your contributions.

When donating to charity, due diligence is important to ensure your donated dollars have the largest impact. One way you can research charitable organizations is to see if they are listed on any watchdog sites. Watchdog sites will rate nonprofits and describe how your donations will be used. A few sites that you can use are BBB Wise Giving Alliance (https://give.org/donor-landing-page), CharityWatch (https://www.charitywatch.org/) & Charity Navigator (https://www.charitynavigator.org/). Watchdog sites are useful for large, established charities, but not every organization will be on these sites. A review of the organization’s website can also help by looking to see what their mission and vision are, what type of impact the organization is making, and what community they are serving. You can also consider how long the organization has been in business. Longevity can play an important factor as it shows they have been able to maintain work on their mission year after year, which demonstrates they are not short-sighted and have long-term goals in mind.

Another important aspect to consider when determining an appropriate nonprofit to give to this month is to align your values with the values of the organizations. Are you passionate about helping with homelessness, providing clean water, helping animals, veterans issues? Another consideration: do you want to donate to an organization that is helping with these issues locally, domestically, or internationally? Once you have determined which issues and geographic impact that you care about most, it can help you narrow down your organization(s) of choice.

Hopefully, the above advice can make it easier for you to select an organization you believe in this holiday season. If you have any questions on how charitable contributions can impact your tax situation, please contact our tax department here at SDK at (612) 332-5500 and we would be happy to go over your situation.