Charitable Contribution Advice

Since 2004, the above named page at http://geocities.com/iconoc/Articles/Charity.html
has had three sources of information. Now there are four.

"One of the recurring news stories is of seemingly legitimate
charities being other than what they appear or to be or even major
fund raising organizations spending an inordinately great percentage
of the funds they receive soliciting more funds.

"Here are four sources of information that might help you to decide
where to share your wealth. I use each of them but do not endorse any
of them."
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__________________________________________________ _________________
A San Franciscan in 47.452 mile² San Francisco.
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ --- http://geocities.com/iconoc/
http://geocities.com/touringsfo/ --------- IClast at GMail com

wrote:
Since 2004, the above named page at http://geocities.com/iconoc/Articles/Charity.html
has had three sources of information. Now there are four.

"One of the recurring news stories is of seemingly legitimate
charities being other than what they appear or to be or even major
fund raising organizations spending an inordinately great percentage
of the funds they receive soliciting more funds.

"Here are four sources of information that might help you to decide
where to share your wealth. I use each of them but do not endorse any
of them."

One problem with these sites is that they don't say how much revenue
(after expenses) is used for the primary purpose of the charity.

My wife was giving to one charity, "Food for the Hungry" that didn't
seem too bad, with about 11% expenses (according to Charity Navigator).
But when I looked at their actual report, and saw how much money went
for actual 'food for the hungry,' and how much went for other programs
(presumably the missionary side of the program) that was the end of the
contributions.

Lately we've been giving to "Direct Relief International" which is
top-rated at Charity Navigator, and spends only 0.6% on fund raising and
administrative expenses.

In short, those web sites area a good start, but once you narrow down
your choices to say those with four stars at Charity Navigator, you
still have to look in more detail.