There are more and more charity scams these days, especially with the many disasters and shootings. It’s hard to protect yourself, especially when these scammers are playing on your emotions.
Our best suggestions are:
- Consider donating to a long standing charity instead of one addressing a specific event, like Red Cross instead of one attached to a specific event. Some of these short term charities take the money and run.
- Next, look up the charity on a website that tracks charities and gives you an idea how good they are, like www.charitynavigator.com or www.charitywatch.com to make sure that they’re legitimate and that they give most of their money to charity.
- Don’t submit your information to ANY website or organization that you haven’t heard of before. If it’s just a random website, don’t plug your credit card information in.
- If it’s a person trying to raise money through GoFundMe or YouCaring, remember that there’s a really low bar to setting these kinds of fundraisers up, and it’s almost impossible to make sure that the person is who they say they are or that their story is true.
Charitable giving is harder than it seems, if you want your money to be going to the people and places that need it. Still, it’s worth it to do your homework, so that you know that you’re truly helping.
If you’re moved to give to charities though, please make sure to get paperwork: You need your contribution acknowledged on the letterhead of the charity, including the date, amount, and the wording “No goods or services were provided in exchange for this contribution.”