Holiday season aligns with an uptick in charitable donations, as an estimated third of all charitable donations come in during the last three months of the year.
Donating to a good cause is a great way to spread cheer and help people in need, but if you’re donating money, you’re going to want to make sure it’s being well spent. There are tons of charities out there, and they’re not all created equal. When giving a donation, it’s important to do your research to make sure your money is going to the right place.
When giving to a charity, it’s important to look at what percentage of money is going to its charitable programming compared to what is used for something like fundraising. If you’re not sure how to tell a good charity from another, you’re in luck: The watchdog group CharityWatch has created a grading system that rates charities based on how they spend their money.
For a group to have a satisfactory rating, at least 60 percent of their spending has to go to their charitable programs. Here are the highest-rated charities that you should consider giving to, broken out by category, based on the information from CharityWatch.
1. Animal Welfare
- American Bird Conservancy
- Animal Welfare Institute
- Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
- Friends of Animals
- Performing Animal Welfare Society
- Wildlife Conservation Society
2. Blind & Hearing Impaired
3. Cancer
- Cancer Research Institute
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
- National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund
- Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance
- Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
- Prostate Cancer Foundation
4. Child Protection & Sponsorship
- Child Find of America
- Children’s Defense Fund
- Prevent Child Abuse America (National Office)
- Children Incorporated
- Compassion International
- Pearl S. Buck International
- Save the Children
- Unbound
5. Civil Rights
6. Environment
- American Bird Conservancy
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Conservation International Foundation
- Earthjustice
- Earthworks
- Keep America Beautiful (National Office)
- National Park Trust
- Sierra Club Foundation
- Trust for Public Land
- Waterkeeper Alliance
- World Resources Institute
7. Health
- American Kidney Fund
- American Sexual Health Association
- Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation
- Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation
- First Candle (National Office)
- Hearing Health Foundation
- Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
- National Hemophilia Foundation (National Office)
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies
8. International Relief & Development
- Africare
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
- American Refugee Committee
- Catholic Relief Services
- International Rescue Committee
- Partners in Health
- Rotary Foundation of Rotary International
- Unbound
- United Methodist Committee on Relief
9. Mental Health & Disabilities
10. Veterans
- Armed Services YMCA of the USA
- Fisher House Foundation
- Gary Sinise Foundation
- Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind
- Homes for Our Troops
- Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
- National Military Family Association
- Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
- Operation Homefront
- Wounded Warriors Family Support
You can check out how reputable your favorite charity is by searching it on CharityWatch.org. The above charities all received A+ or A ratings, but there are a number of other great charities that received a grade of A- or B+ as well that would be worthy of your donations as well.
Other Great Charities To Support & Which Ones To Avoid
Consumer Reports also recently put together its own vetting system based on data from Charity Watch, Charity Navigator (another leading charity watchdog organization) and the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. Some of the charities on CR’s list cross over with the top-rated organizations from Charity Watch, and there are some additions as well. CR also features some of the low-rated charities, so it’s definitely worth a look here.
