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It’s always frustrating to donate your own hard-earned money to a supposed charity only to discover down the road, general_squarecourtesy of a newscast, that the company you gave to was a fraud. It is one of the main reasons people have stopped giving cash to charities in recent years. While there are legitimate charities that do need help, there are also so-called charities that take your money and run.

However, thanks again to technology today, you can have a heads-up about different charities before you donate. The website Charity Navigator is a watchdog for charities. The website scores charity groups based on different factors. Charity Navigator was started in 2001 and has quickly become the nation’s most used resource for evaluating charities. Last year, more than 4 million people used the website to research companies. Not only do consumers find the website helpful, large companies like CNN also use the resources of Charity Navigator to identify legitimate charitable organizations. The group actually has enlisted the assistance of professional analysts to review the financial documents of several thousand non-profit organizations. They then established a numbers-based rating system to help consumers better understand the charity prior to donating.

The two main areas the rating system concerns itself with are how the charity functions responsibly on a day to day basis and how well it is able to sustain its programs throughout time. The site awards a charity ranging from 0 to 4. You can search the site by charity name, its location, and the type of charity. The site also offers expert advice, tips for donating, and top 10 lists that highlight the tops and bottom contenders of charitable donations. The professional analysts behind the site have even been regular contributors to the major news outlets when reporting about charities, their responsibilities, and ethics in fundraising.

Even while many consumers are in financial turmoil of their own, people still manage to find a way to give back. Donations big and small do not stop coming in to assist those in need. It is because it is now too easy to create a believable charity that kind-hearted people would want to help. As people struggle to pay their own bills, worry about fraud and being taken on a charitable donation prevents many from helping. With a site like Charity Navigator, not only can consumers check out their intended charity, they may also be able to use the site to discover other charities that need help.



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