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Before you donate your hard-earned money, you may have a little knowledge of the organizations concerned and how they spend their money.
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But we should be cautious. Remember, Mother Teresa’s way of doing good is often criticized. In many cases, people criticize charities simply because they feel better about pointing out their shortcomings.
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The ugliest theft is to cheat money in the name of charity for your own enjoyment. You can identify the authenticity of charities through the following channels:
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1. Charity Navigator. Charity Navigation is a non-profit organization in the US Internal Revenue Code 501 (c) (3), and any donation to it can be tax deductible. It also provides the contact information of various charities, scores and rates them, and helps users decide whether to donate to a charity. It even lists the financial statements of these institutions. If Charity Navigation has evaluated relevant charitable organizations, it will not accept donations from the other party.
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2. Guide Star. Guide Star is also a charity under the US Internal Revenue Code 501 (c) (3) and can evaluate other charities and issue reports. Many of its data are publicized through media and websites such as causes.com. But for some reports, users have to pay an additional $125 to view them.
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3. State Regulatory Authority. Most states in the United States provide online tools and telephone address books to help people check charities registered in the state. For example, you can quickly find the top 10 charities by name in New Jersey.
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4. Better Business Bureau (often referred to as BBB). BBB’s database contains information about many enterprises and charities. Charities that can’t find records are not very good, but it doesn’t mean they can’t donate. Charity organizations may be great, but they are just established. Business registration requires payment to BBB, but many charities do not. No matter whether the organization is registered or not, the complaints against them will be publicized.
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5. The rumor dispelling website Snopes. Snoops is most interested in those who receive emails and don’t want to forward them all. A lot of emails that have been forwarded all the time in the world are forged, such as stupid words like a friend’s friend borrowing money. If you want to find out whether the moving photos and sad stories of the crazy day are true, you’d better go to Snoops to have a look; Copy and paste the statements in the email into the search bar, and you can find out the truth soon. The vast majority of stories are false, misleading, or at least exaggerated. This website can also tell you whether blondes will disappear after several generations.
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Using the above channels, you can easily judge whether the charity is legal. However, it is also possible that charities are legal, just because they are newly established or too small to be listed in the database. If the state regulatory authority and BBB cannot find the complaints, they may have to make their own judgments, but they should be cautious.