30 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING | APRIL 2025
How to find a charity you can support
Each year, millions of people across the globe donate their time and money to worthy causes. A desire to make the world a more equitable, safer and healthier place drives such endeavors and enables the efforts of countless nonprofit organizations as they seek to fulfill their missions.
Data from Giving USATM, a public service initiative of the The Giving Institute, indicates that Americans gave roughly $ 557 billion in 2023, earning the United States the distinction of being the sixth most generous country in the world according to the Charities Aid Foundation’ s“ World Giving Index 2024” report. It’ s no secret that giving feels good, and those who want to give have a wealth of worthy causes that merit their generosity. Navigating one’ s way through those causes and organizations is no small task, but the following are some tips prospective donors can consider as they try to find charities worthy of their generosity.
— Commit to some research. Serious donors recognize just how vital their donations are, and that recognition underscores the importance of researching before donating. Various organizations, such as the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and Charity Navigator, evaluate charitable organizations on a wide range of criteria. The resulting reports that stem from those evaluations do much of the researching legwork for prospective donors. However, as valuable as such reports can be, they can’ t make donation decisions for prospective donors. Such decisions rest entirely in the hands of donors, who can utilize reviews of a wide range of organizations( the BBB Wise Giving Alliance has free reviews of roughly 1,300 national charities) to make the most informed donation
decisions possible.
— Identify your own prospective role. Charitable donations are often discussed in the context of donating funds, but donors can do more than write checks. Before choosing a charity, identify the role you’ d like to play in giving back. If you want to volunteer your time, a locally based nonprofit might have more accessible opportunities than one with a national presence that may not be sponsoring any initiatives close to your home. If you aspire to help children, consider a role as a volunteer instructor with a local park service or a coach with a youth sports league in your community.
— Track current events. It’ s not uncommon for adults to indicate they don’ t watch the news because it’ s all bad news. There’ s certainly no shortage of conflict in the world, but paying attention to current events can inspire generous individuals to do their part to make the world a better place. In addition, local news broadcasts and local newspapers often highlight individuals going above and beyond to help others. Such human interest stories can shed light on worthy causes in your own community that you might not hear about if you avoid local media stories and reports. By staying up-to-date on current events, you might discover local, national or international charitable endeavors that are trying to end conflicts or help those in need overcome challenges.
Generous individuals may need a little help finding worthy causes to support. Various strategies can help people clear such hurdles as they aspire to make the world a better place.
30 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING | APRIL 2025