As the end of the year quickly approaches, more people are giving to charities.
Charity Navigator's marketing manager Sara Nason recommends five key steps to make when trying to find a charity to donate.
1. Align your donation with charities that share your passion/interests
2. Do research on the charity
3. Call the charity and find out their goals, challenges, impact, accomplishments
4. How you give (unrestricted)/create budget
5. Follow investment (6 mos-1 year) and reach out back to them to find out how they’re using your money. Get a progress report.
“Make a list of causes you care about and really be specific about the impact that you want your donation to have. Do your research. Before donating, you’re going to want to talk with the charity about its accomplishments, its goals, its challenges.” said Nason.
She said consider how you give. The most popular way to give, at this time of the year, is through unrestricted donations.
“Trust that the charity knows best how to use your donation. And then, six months to a year after you’ve donated, follow up and get a progress report on how you can best support their long-term needs,” said Nason.
She said if your charity can't give you a progress report, you might want to choose another organization.