CharityWatch.org - Give Wisely to Charity

CharityWatch.org is the homepage for the American Institute of Philanthropy, a nonprofit organization that keeps a watching eye over charity organizations across the country to help donors make informed giving decisions. The site organizes the charities in thematic groups, that is: by kind of aid or relief they serve to different groups: women, children, hunger relief, illnesses, veterans, literacy programs, Hispanic, Jewish, etc, and rates the top of them based on how much money they spend to raise funds ($25 for $100 is the acceptable rate), and what percentage of donations go to actually help people, and what other percentage goes to pay for the running of the charity itself. Unlike similar sources of information, this watchdog service audits and crosschecks the charity’s tax declarations with official records in order to independently asses the financial facts of charitable institutions. If you are interested to learn more about how CharityWatch.org rates the institutions, take a look at the ‘Rating Guide’ section to read all about it. The site also has a complete and updated alphabetical index of charities (I wonder if they can consider having a searchbox, which they don’t at the time being).