You can compare charities using the same analytical techniques Forbes uses for its annual America’s … [+]
The duh-moment headline is right there on the website of the watchdog Federal Trade Commission: “Avoid Donating to a Fake Charity.” This advice is geared mainly to the millions of would-be donors who are cold-called daily by telemarketers purporting to raise money for worthy causes.
We can go even further. Simply hang up on these callers, who often are computer-generated voices monitored by a human operator using what is known as soundboard technology. Very few reputable charities fundraise this way and if they do, their contracted outside fundraisers often keep an outsized share of the money raised. You don’t need that.
Still, plenty of the country’s one million-plus nonprofits are worthy, even if you aren’t already familiar with them. So how do you evaluate whether a new-to-you charity deserves your hard-earned dollars?
The Forbes List of America’s Top 100 Charities can help you start the process, even if your target isn’t on the list. That’s because the list provides a frame of reference, and some of the analytical techniques are the same.
But first, here’s a description of the Forbes list and some of the assumptions behind it. It consists of the country’s 100 largest charities, as determined by the amount of private support received in the latest fiscal period, usually ending in 2021, for which there is…
