Searching for charities online

Dear PropellerHeads: In my younger days, I was pretty active with all sorts of worthy causes. Now the best way I can help is through donations. Can the Internet help in my search for deserving charities?

A: Our sincere thanks for your philanthropic and activist lifestyle. Sitting-in, marching, picketing, boycotting, bra-burning, volunteering, donating and similar activities represent a great way for us to make a difference in this world. Especially bra-burning. Applause! Applause!

The U.S. should be proud of its tradition of giving to causes, either through time, money or other resources. According to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies (www.jhu.edu/~ccss), the U.S. easily leads all countries in contributions and volunteer time to nonprofit organizations.

Is your only exposure to charity nowadays when your co-worker hawks overpriced Snickers bars to support her kid's school band program, or is that just us? Well in any case, if you still have some get-up-and-go, check out www.volunteermatch.org. This site lets you put in your zip code and gives you a list of local activities you can participate in that'll make your heart feel good.

If your marching days are behind you, the Internet is a great place to research charities. Just start by searching for whatever floats your charitable boat. For instance, you could Google "medical charities," "education charities," "conservation charities" or "child relief organizations." Then spend some time with the results and visit the organizations sites. Once there, you can review their mission and strategy, their programs, their finances and assess their impact on the cause that interests you.

But you have to be careful. You may stumble on a site designed to scam you out of your money. In the U.S., nonprofit organizations fall under 501(c)(3) of the tax code. Such organizations file a tax return using IRS Form 990. Verifying this is a good way to ensure that the charity is legitimate.

PropellerHeads always like to start at websites where someone else has done most of the work for us. These sites collect information from the charitable organizations, public records and contributors to help you compare your potential choices. The American Institute of Philanthropy's site, www.charitywatch.org, grades charities on several categories, including how much of your donations end up where you hope they would. Another good choice is Guidestar at www.guidestar.org. You should also visit the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance site at www.give.org.

Our favorite is Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org). In addition to being a great resource to begin your research, this site has fantastic articles on smart giving. It also lets you network with like-minded givers to share your experiences.

For those of you with lots to give, consider the philanthropy section of Worth Magazine (www.worth.com). There you will find some help on tax and estate strategies to ensure that your giving has the maximum impact.

So far, we've listed resources covering charities that solicit nationally. But, as they say, "charity begins at home." For information on local charities, check out www.charity-charities.org or go to the BBB site (www.bbb.org) serving your locality.

Just remember, your younger days are gone. Sitting-in, marching, picketing, boycotting, volunteering and donating might all still be great ways to contribute if you find some spare time, but bra-burning ... probably not such a great idea. We all want to Keep America Beautiful!

When the Propeller Heads at Data Directions aren't busy with their IT projects, they love to answer questions on business or consumer technology. E-mail them to questions@askthepropellerheads.com or contact us at Data Directions Inc., 8510 Bell Creek Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Visit our website at www.askthepropellerheads.com.