How to Choose Which Charity to Support

Deciding to support a charity is one thing, but choosing which charity is deserving of your time, money and effort? That’s a whole different ball game.

There are thousands upon thousands of charities out there, aiming to alleviate everything from childhood hunger or homelessness to heartworms in dogs. How do you choose which one is right for you? Which ones will use your funds appropriately? Which ones are better than the rest?

Just follow these three easy steps:

Which Cause Do You Want to Support?

What is the first and most important thought that comes to mind when you decide to support a charity? Which areas do you care about? What issues is the world currently facing? Maybe you want to support the causes that help the millions of children dying because of no food or malnutrition, funding for education, research, or women empowerment.

Learn More About Each Charity

Take all your shortlisted charity and do some preliminary research on each. Go to their websites and read their mission statements. Browse their recent projects and efforts and see if they resonate with your goals and values.

You should also dig in and see if the charity is local, state-wide, national or international. Are you looking to better your immediate community or are you hoping to improve countries or populations worse off than yours? Make sure the charity aligns with your ideal level of impact.

How do Professionals Support Charities?

What kind of impact do you want to leave on the charity? How do you want to support your charity? iConnectX provides a platform for professionals, executives, and companies to raise funds for charities.

Young professionals can buy the time of industry experts or executives to receive mentoring or help in achieving personal or career goals. Monies collected are donated to their charity of choice.

Professionals can directly raise the funds for their favorite charity by visiting the charity page on iConnectX and donating. You can also download our Android app or iOS app and signup to donate on your mobile device.

If you don’t have the time or money to donate or buy the time of experts or executives in your industry on the iConnectX platform then you can donate items charity and in turn, they can auction those items raise funds for their cause.

How Experts and Executives Donate Funds to Charity

iConnectX has introduced a Private Bridge concept where an executive or expert can donate their time to mentor a professional (iConnectX holds the patent right for it). Industry experts or executives can sign up on iConnectX and make themselves available for mentoring or sharing their knowledge. They can set a Private Bridge amount for mentoring and designate a charity which they would want to support. The amount raised through mentoring will directly go to the designated charity.

How does mentoring improve their performance as an executive? It’s a win-win situation for mentor and mentee. As the mentor donates their time, they also build on their performance as an executive by improving their listening skills, communications skills, understanding the different generations, improve their time management and leadership skills, and increase confidence to speak in public forums.

Start Big When Choosing Your Charity

Look at sites like MyPhilanthropedia.org or GreatNonprofits.org to get a feel for what charities are out there.

On MyPhilanthropedia, for example, you can browse through dozens of different categories, from workforce development and climate change to education and social equality. Click on any category that’s of interest to you and see a ranking of top charities within that field. Pick a few that stand out to you and start making a short list of potential charities you can donate to.

You can also check out our blog, The List of Best Charities to Donate fund in 2019, the list includes 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations recognized by US law along with some of the largest charities featured in Forbes America's Top Charities 2018 list.

Make Sure They’re Accountable

By this point, you should have pinpointed two or three charities you’re considering, so now it’s time to dig a little deeper. Before you donate time or money to any organization, you want to make sure they’re going to use those resources honestly and that they’ll make some sort of measurable impact.

Browse the charity’s website and look for recent news articles on the organization (try a search on news.google.com). Make sure there are no recent stories about any scandals or misuses of money and try to locate a long-term plan for the organization. What milestones are they working toward? Do they have measurable goals they’re looking to achieve?

You can also look for reviews of the charity on sites like CharityWatch.org or CharityNavigator.org or use a site like iConnectX, and only give to professionally, pre-vetted organizations.

Giving your time and resources to charity is a noble thing – but don’t do it blindly. Sign up for iConnectX and use our directory of already vetted organizations to find your perfect cause. Then, use your professional know-how and skills to donate mentoring sessions to a professional in need. Their fees will go to your charity, and you’ll make a difference in the world – in more ways than one.