Benefit from some freely-donated advice about choosing
the right charity to receive your funds
Charity may begin at home but make sure it ends with
your chosen charitable cause securely banking your hard-earned cash
Charity is the act of giving alms, goods, valuables or time to the
less fortunate in society or for any other worthy humane cause. The less
fortunate being deemed to include the poor - especially widows and
orphans, the sick and the disabled. It can also be regarded as
philanthropy, which involves donations of goods, money and time for a
charitable cause.
Unfortunately, there are those who seek to benefit from the misery of
others and, with the increasing use of credit cards and the Internet,
many people have been swindled of their money and valuables by false
charities. Before filling out that online donation form, it is a sound
idea to take the following precautions.
First, make sure that the online forms are hosted on completely secure
servers so that all the personal information you enter (such as your
credit card number) will be protected using the highest possible
security levels. How can this be done? Look at the URL at the top of
your browser, you should see the 'http://' part change to 'https://'
indicating that these are secure pages (these are issued by the webhost
and will be at an extra charge to the charity - they cannot fake this
themselves. Also, look for third party accreditation and if in any
doubt, check the credentials of your chosen charity. Any respectable
organisation will be looking to emphasise their trustworthiness.
Now check the credibility of the charity organization both online and
offline. Look to see whether they have a recognisable physical address
and contact details. If you are in doubt, send them a letter by post
asking for a prospectus or details of their charity. Look for signs of
layers where Charity 'A' is part of Organisation 'B' which is managed by
Corporation 'C' etc. This just suggests fronts and should be steered
well clear of.
Most charities will ask you how you would like your donation to be used.
International organisations might even ask you a specific part of the
world that you would want your funds to benefit. They should give you
some feedback and a 'thank you' letter and maybe even invite you to
participate on forums at conventions or perhaps get involved in one of
their projects. A bona-fide charity will give you a choice of settlement
- eg to pay through PayPal, by cheque, debit or credit card and not
restrict payment to one mode such as 'by credit card only'.
Genuine charities are usually very open and flexible, accepting almost
everything from food to clothes and giving you physical points to
deliver the goods. They will also often use radio and television
stations to direct their donors and warn them of defrauders. Most fake
charitable organisations are hard to track, will tend to be
money-specific, and are likely to shy away from providing names or
physical addresses.
Before you jump to the donations page, check out their management
portfolio. Do they have the pictures of the administration members and
their premises? Do they have an open online feedback forum where donors
can comment? Can you recognize a prominent personality involved
anywhere, for instance a local politician or church leader? If not, the
organisation is most likely a fraud.
Credible and true online charities are also very active. They have
social networking sites that are open to e-commerce donations and
provide a lot of functionality for donors.
Taking a few moments to check out the credentials of an organisation
will give you peace of mind knowing that your donation has gone to the
cause of your choice and that you have taken the trouble to choose the
right charity.
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