“HP Ideas, How to Spend Effectively” – Anonymous Guest PostSuggestion from anonymous to all lightbringers:
Seems to me practically everything in this world needs a rescue or an upgrade; so many situations have gotten out of hand. Let’s therefore use our money wisely: before giving to any charity, we should learn how our money will really be spent. How much actually goes to the stated cause?
The American Red Cross has become a travesty, for example, according to investigative reports. They have been paying vast amounts to their executives, building huge fancy headquarters but leaving Haiti devastated, following through on practically nothing they promised to do there to help those poor people after their disaster. They talked a good game but delivered virtually none of it. And if you send money to some overseas governments and organizations for food relief, it will promptly disappear into officials’ pockets instead. This has been documented.
Do you want 50% or even 35% (or even 25%!) of your donation to go into some executive’s or official’s pocket? I don’t. I think of this blessing as God’s money and want to steward it well. We can plan better and scope out many charities in detail to learn exactly how their money is spent – luckily most of the research has been done for us and is easily available on line.
Consider reading these articles first. Then bookmark these links to the four major charity evaluation sites listed below, so you can use at least one of them – if not several! – before your cash goes out to heal the world.
httpss://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-feature/169 (Must Read!)
www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2014/12/10/how-to-evaluate-a-charity
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/12/make-sure-your-donation-counts/index.htm
httpss://www.charitywatch.org This site is watchdogs, good to keep an eye out for any charities you routinely give to.
https://www.givewell.org They are looking for which charities actually do the most good.
Here’s another site I like because they show every financial detail about each organization:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/
They have evaluated many, many charities and are always adding new ones!