5 Simple Steps to Determining if a Charity is Legitimate

You can’t get through too many days without receiving some sort of email or piece of snail mail requesting money for a good intentioned charity. But how do you know the charity is for real versus someone’s attempt to scam you out of your hard earned money?

Unfortunately, there are quite a few scam artists out there. They aim to hit you square in your heart so that you open your wallet to them. And, they have no intention of using the money for anything other than self-gain and furthering their own objectives.

Not to mention that there are also a completely different set of individuals you have to watch out for – the ones that send you a virus infected link just tempting you to click on it so they can wreak some havoc on your world (just for their own kicks). Either way, it can make you very unwilling to step up and do your part to make the world a better place because you don’t want to fall victim to someone else’s game.

The sad thing is that there are some great charities out there that aren’t being funded because of all the bogus ones that exist. However, with a little bit of work on your part, you’ll be able to determine which is which quite easily.

To find out if a charity is truly legitimate or just an attempt to rob you blind, just follow these 5 simple steps:

1. Never trust links

woman searching on computer

To avoid the hackers that want to get inside your computer or the virus developers who strive to take out as much of your important information as possible, you never, ever want to trust a link in an email from a charity that you did not specifically provide with your email address. In other words, if the email came completely unsolicited, then don’t trust it. Period.

And, even if you do know the charity, you might not want to trust the links regardless. There are some very creative minds out there that can craft emails to look like they’re from the real company, but click on them and you’re wiped out in a heartbeat.

For these reasons, you’ll want to go to the charity’s website on your own by hand typing it into the URL. Follow a link and it may lead you straight to misery.

2. Investigate the charity

Google or Bing the alleged charity (or search it out in whichever fashion you prefer) to see what you can find. You’d be amazed how quickly people will post against a charity that claims to be real but isn’t. As they say, be nice to people and you’ll likely never hear about it, but do one thing wrong and you’ll find it posted everywhere.

Just last week I received an email from a person that wanted a writer. That’s not surprising to me as I do that for a living. But, something told me that the request was not genuine so I decided to investigate on my own.

I went to Google, typed in the senders email address and the very first search result told of how the originating party was part of a phishing scam. Had I engaged with this person, I would have at a minimum wasted my time and who knows what else would have happened.

This step can take a little time but it’s worth it if you’re truly considering parting with your hard earned cash. Put in the work necessary to assess whether you’d be giving to friendly, deserving hands or if you’d just be giving a handout.

3. Inquire as to how they use the proceeds

woman doing online banking

If you do some sleuthing and feel that they are in fact a true and actual charity, the next step would be to see how they use their proceeds. Specifically, you’re going to want to know what percentage goes to those in need and what percentage goes into the pockets of those running the charity.

Some charities publish this type of information right on their website. Some may require more work on your part. But, the answer that you find may be the difference between whether you choose to give them cash or whether you decide to walk away after donating nothing.

There is no doubt that it takes capital to run a charity. You still have employees and overhead costs that can’t be avoided. But, if most of your monetary intake is going for these things instead of actually helping those in need, it can be a hard pill to swallow to those that are considering giving – as it should be.

Legitimate charities know these numbers up front because they’ve been asked these types of questions before. Also, genuine organizations want to keep a level of transparency so that they foster your trust. So, if you look for these numbers and either can’t find the answer, get the run-around or hear an answer you don’t like, put your money back in your pocket. It’s safer there.

4. Request written material

You can always ask a charity to send you written information if you’re still unconvinced. Major charities always have this available and a lot of the smaller ones do as well as they often print up informational packets to get their name out in the communities they rely on for support.

The nice thing about this step is that it puts most of the work back on them. If they want your money bad enough, they have to hand-feed you the information. Plus, you can review it when it’s convenient for you and you don’t have to have computer access, like when riding the bus to work or sitting at the doctor’s office waiting for your appointment.

One thing to keep in mind is that having written material doesn’t make them legitimate. And, some smaller agencies might not have the resources to print up a lot of fancy looking material. So, while this is something to consider, it has to be taken as part of a whole with all of the rest of the information that you find out.

5. Ask around

girl talk in the park

You can also ask others around you if they’ve ever heard of the charity that is soliciting you. They might not have, but you might also get lucky and find out whether they are legitimate easily enough. Mention it to your friends, family or co-workers and see what they know.

If someone you spoke to has donated to them in the past, you might want to find out why. What convinced them to donate? What you’re looking for is whether they investigated to see if the company was legitimate or if they just gave blindly – which is exactly what you’re trying not to do.

Finding out if a request for money is legitimate or just a scam can be time consuming but, if you believe in the cause, it’s worth the effort. And, honest, real organizations will appreciate the work.

About the author

Christina DeBusk

Changing careers mid-life from law enforcement to writing, Christina spends her days helping others enrich their businesses and personal lives one word at a time.

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