Consumer Watch: Let experts guide your giving

Let experts guide your giving Just when Americans need help the most, charitable donations to organizations that can give them relief have dwindled.

Annual giving fell to $307.7 billion in 2008, a 5.7 percent drop from 2007, the Giving In stitute in Illinois said.

Charities are facing a big challenge as a result of the recession, said Barbara Homiller, vice president of the Better Business Bureau of Central Virginia.

Just as individuals are experiencing shrinking assets, so are charitable organizations, she said. For that reason, this year is not the time to decrease your donations if you have the means to give.

Follow these tips, then use as a guideline the BBB's list of approved charities:

• Let the experts investigate the charity.

They've done the research and know what to look for and which ones to stay away from.

CharityNavigator, a New Jersey-based nonprofit, for example, employs a team of analysts, senior program analyst Matthew Viola said.

It analyzes the documents of every 501(c)3 charitable organization that files with the Internal Revenue Service. It also gathers information from the charities' Web sites, then organize everything, including creating pie charts, so donors can easily pick a worthy cause.

The BBB evaluates charities based on 20 standards before adding them to its approved list.

The Office of Consumer Affairs in Richmond maintains a list of charities that are registered to solicit in Virginia.

Guidestar.org is a site where donors can read what the charity has filed with the IRS, including how much its top managers earn.

• Zero in on what cause you wish to support.

At CharityNavigator.com, you can search for charities in Virginia, even those within a certain ZIP code.

You can choose by category, such as food banks, the arts, or children, or search only five-star-rated charities.

• Consider giving directly to the charity.

Charities that use professional fundraisers might forfeit 25 cents to 95 cents of every dollar to solicitors hired to ask for donations on their behalf, Viola said. Is that how you want your money to be used?

Tell the solicitor, "Thank you. I prefer giving directly to the charity." Then hang up.

• Be certain that the charity gives at least 65 percent to the cause.

"We like to see them spend no more than 35 cents of every dollar for fundraising," Homiller said.

• Ascertain that the charity is a 501(c)3. Otherwise, your donation won't be tax-deductible, Homiller said.

• Consider giving more money to fewer charities.

It's better to give $50 to one charity than $10 to five charities, Viola said. The charity that gets the $50 can do more because the donation is larger.

The charity that gets the $10 is apt to sell your name in order to boost the value of your small donation.

• Find out the charity's privacy policy.

Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or . Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RTDIrisTaylor.