Giving guides

Original, practical guides to choosing a charity, understanding scores, and comparing overhead with real impact.

These guides are educational, not financial, tax or religious advice. Verify current charity reports before giving.

How to choose an effective charity

A practical donor checklist for checking a charity’s work, evidence, finances and accountability before you give.

Understanding our charity scores

What the directory’s scores and spending percentages mean, what they leave out, and how to use them without false certainty.

Why charity overhead is not the same as impact

Learn what overhead ratios can tell you, why low costs alone do not prove effectiveness, and which questions to ask instead.

Our editorial and corrections policy

How this directory distinguishes source-checked research from legacy listing data, handles corrections, and approaches advertising.

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