Our money speaks. Learn about the things to look out for when donating to ensure your money supports ethical and impactful organizations.

  • Give them a search.

    Look up the nonprofit’s name with keywords like “fraud,” “bad,” and “abuse.” These searches should bring out any news articles related to dishonesty, mis-use of funds, and unkind conduct.

  • Ask around.

    Ask your kind friends and online community for their perspective on local nonprofits. Word of mouth is powerful and sometimes people know more than the internet does about shady happenings.

  • Look into financials.

    Look up your nonprofit on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer for insight on how they allocate their money. Red flags to look for include excessive salaries compared to cost of living and large holiday bonuses.

Give Well

GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give. Their ratings come from internal in-depth research to determine how much good a program accomplishes per dollar spent. Consideration is given to lives saved, lives improved, and so on.

Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator is an online resource that assigns ratings to 501(c)(3)s based on these four qualifications:

  • Impact & Results

  • Accountability & Finances

  • Culture & Community

  • Leadership & Adaptability

Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO)

Running out of Notre Dame and funded by Wilson Sheehan, LEO works alongside top researchers in the social service sector to research impact. Their work is cutting edge and endlessly kind because they support nonprofits in their journey to prove they are creating the intended impact.

I encourage you to explore their “Lessons Learned” and “publications” under the Impact tab. Happy learning and thanks for your kindness!