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How to Find the Right Charity to Support

Mike Sagman

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A passionate supporter of dog and animal rights, retired dentist Mike Sagman, DDS, serves as the creator and managing editor of the Dog Food Advisor, a reference and public service website owned by Clicks and Traffic, LLC. Over the years, Dr. Mike Sagman has supported the work of several charities and initiatives focused on dogs and animals.

The first step to choosing the right charity to support is figuring out your values and your preferences. By doing this, you get a better idea of what missions you are truly passionate about and avoid feeling as if you wasted money or time on something you didn’t feel very strongly about. Identifying your preferences also involves deciding on whether you want to support a charity that does local, national, or international work, and whether you want to help an old or new charity.
After that, look for charities that fall in line with your values and preferences. This is best done by looking at the charity’s mission and its impact, both of which can commonly be found on a charity’s website. You can also look at how a charity needs support. Most charities accept donations, but they may not always be looking for volunteer. If you’d rather volunteer your time instead of just donating money, this will eliminate more options for you.
Finally, take the time to do some homework about each charity. By looking up information on a search engine or through an online database of charities, you can get a better idea of how donations are used by an organization. Make sure the charity you want to support has a reasonable operating budget and look at their 990s. Form 990s are the IRS filing document for nonprofits and can give you information about a charity’s spending and income.