Charity Navigator

Giving money to charity may not be the first thing on a lot of people's minds these days, but giving does still occur. In fact, in times like these, charities need donations more than ever. There is a website out there that can help you decide whether your donation dollars are going to a worthwhile cause. It's called Charity Navigator. To quote the web site's homepage, Charity Navigator, "America's premier independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,300 of America's largest charities." The site provides statistics on where a charity's money goes, offers user reviews, and offers searches by charity category. With our dollars getting stretched, sites such as these can really help us spend our money a little more wisely. You can access the site from a link under "Consumer Information/Protection."