There are hundreds of non-profit organizations in the United States.   We're all familiar with biggies like The American Cancer Society, The American Lung Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Special Olympics, CARE, etc.  There are plenty of smaller, well run, organized and worthy charities as well. 

When it comes to giving, most of us have some favorites that we regularly donate to.  We may have had a close friend or family member afflicted with a disease for which more research funding is needed.   Our love of animals or concern for our planet may prompt us to support other organizations.

We are a generous nation and I encourage everyone to continue giving.  But, I advocate giving wisely when possible.  

For years, I supported an animal welfare organization - blindly.  Finally, when I began seeing duplicates - even triplicate - mailings requesting I become a member (after having been a faithful member for a couple of decades..) I woke up to the fact that they did not have their act together.  Besides killing trees with their unnecessary mailings it showed me their level of disorganization.  I did a little research and learned that relatively few dollars donated actually went to programs and that way too much money was spent on administrative costs.

Money is often hard-earned.  We should be smart about who and what we support and know how well they perform.  Toward that end, I encourage all generous people to check out the American Institute of Philanthropy.  AIP rates hundreds of charities and offers free of charge, their list of the top rated charities.  Some of the criteria: "..spend 75% or more of their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support..and receive open-book status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to AIP.." You can refer to their section on Criteria for more detail.  The complete rating guide (so you can see how your favorite charities are rated) is available by mail for $3.00 or free to AIP members. 

I'm not claiming that every charity - worthwhile or worthless - will be listed here.  Just a large number of them.  Especially important to this giver is that an organization is comfortable enough to provide their financial particulars to a watch group.  And if they aren't, why not?!