365daystogive's Blog

Some days are busier than others.

When I started on this journey of giving, I knew that it would be difficult to physically volunteer everyday.  Between work, volunteering, teaching yoga and my personal life I am pretty booked until, well, March 2011.  So on the days that I cannot get out into the community I will donate a small sum of money to a nonprofit of my choosing.

Before I whipped out my credit card I did a little research online.  I found a great article by Forbes on how to choose a charity wisely.  They warned of fraudulent charities and those who might spend more on administrative work rather than their cause.  Working with different non-profits over the years this wasn’t entirely new information, but I do feel saddened that it continues to be this way.

I clicked on a tab that said “most efficient large charities” and found one immediately that I liked.  It is called “Heart to Heart” and they boast an impressive 98 % of money collected goes to the cause, only 2% towards the administrative side.  Those are some impressive numbers!  Right now they are focusing their efforts on the tragedies in Chile and Haiti, but they work all over the world, wherever there are people in need.

It pays to take some extra time for researching charities, I would be heartbroken knowing that my hard-earned dough had gone to a prankster rather than someone in need.  I hope that more people will be inspired to donate money to a worthwhile cause, even if it is just a few bucks, the last few crumpled singles at the bottom of your purse that you are too embarrassed to take out.  Someone out there wouldn’t be too embarrassed to accept them for a warm meal.