Check Your Charity Before You Give

Emails, mailboxes and voice mails are filling up with requests for charitable donations. Makes sense, as this is the season for giving and making end-of-year tax donations. This year, appeals are in even higher gear, given recent hurricanes, earthquakes and fires.

Most of us want to help organizations who help others or promote issues and institutions we treasure. But how do we make sure our donation counts?

3 Tips to Ensure Your Charitable Gift Goes to the Right Place

Here are tips to avoid scams and support credible charities.   

#1 Check Out Online Sites

As intriguing solicitations come across your desk, you can quickly and easily research the organizations to see if you should pursue further. You should be able to check out any reputable charity online.

The Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance rates a charity on 20 standards that cover governance, results reports, finances, and truthful and transparent representations. The standard rating is simple—met, unmet or unable to verify.

Many states require charities to register, often with the Attorney General. The National Association of State Charity Officials has compiled a comprehensive list with contact information.  

The Internal Revenue Service maintains a list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible donations, as well as those that have had their tax exemption revoked for failure to file required reports.

GuideStar advertises itself as the “world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations.” GuideStar, also a charity, provides IRS reports, annual reports, revenue and expense dates for each charity.

#2 Don’t Presume Donation Requests for Police or Fire Are Credible

We want to ensure our community is safe, so when someone asks us to financially support our local police or fire department, we’re apt to say yes.

Not so fast, cautions the Federal Trade Commission. “Just because an organization claims it has local ties or works with local police or firefighters doesn’t mean contributions will be used locally or for public safety. Most solicitations for police and fire service organizations are made by paid professional fund-raisers,” according to the FTC.

The FTC recommends that you ask the solicitor for the exact name of the organization and written information on how the money will be used locally. Find out if the donation is tax deductible. Organizations such as fraternal associations and trade unions are tax-exempt, but donations may not be tax-deductible.

After you have gathered all the pertinent information and before you make a donation, contact your local police or fire department to verify the organization’s claims.

Also, contact local law enforcement if the organization advertises that you will get special treatment, such as a pass for speeding, if you donate. That’s a big red flag that a scam is afoot.

#3 Don’t Give Impulsively After a Disaster

A hurricane, flood or other natural disaster brings out the best in us and, sadly, the worst.

After the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, for instance, dozens of people claimed to have lost loved ones so they could collect money from disaster relief agencies.

Because people want their charity dollars to go directly to relief for specific disasters, they make easy prey for scammers who register new donation websites, then take the money and run while frequently also stealing the giver’s identity. AARP advises that it’s wise to suspect that any donation solicitation from an unfamiliar organization after a disaster is a scam.

Many of these scams attract their victims on social media. Charity Navigator, another good website for researching charities, says that social media can help legitimate charities reach donors, but you still need to do your homework.   

“Social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs can deliver heart-wrenching images and information about a disaster to our computers and phones. These often include pleas to donate. While these applications can be a powerful tool to inspire your desire to help, you should not blindly give via these vehicles,” the nonprofit explains.

To make sure donations go to well-intentioned charities, the AARP put together a list of 7 tips to spot charity fraud. Here are 3 of them:

1. Pressure to give immediately.
2. A thank -you for a donation you don't recall making.
3. A request for payment by cash, gift card or wire transfer.

Philanthropy Is a Part of Life at Kendal at Oberlin

Here are a few of our favorite charities that we’ve already verified for you. They include:

• Heifer International
• ELCA Good Gifts Catalog

On our website, we also have an option to donate to Kendal at Oberlin, a not-for-profit. Your gifts and the gifts of others, including many residents, help provide financial assistance for residents, capital improvements in the community, internships for students, and accumulation of charitable reserves.

If you want to find out more about how residents and Kendal give to each other, the community, and the world, just ask us. Give us a call at 800-548-9469 or 440-775-0094 or contact us online.

This blog was originally published in 2017 and was updated in 2024.

In the past, Molly Kavanaugh frequently wrote about Kendal at Oberlin for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where she was a reporter for 16 years. Now we are happy to have her writing for the Kendal at Oberlin Community.

About Kendal at Oberlin: Kendal is a nonprofit life plan community serving older adults in northeast Ohio. Located about one mile from Oberlin College and Conservatory, and about a 40-minute drive from downtown Cleveland, Kendal offers a vibrant resident-led lifestyle with access to music, art and lifelong learning.