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I have a hard time with charity. I’m not exactly swimming in bathtubs of golden doubloons; every day that goes to charity is coming out of some other part of the budget. Still, I’m willing to drop some money here and there for worthy causes.

I always wonder though, where does this money go? How much of it actually makes it to the end cause and how much is spent on ‘administrative costs’?  Is the money spent where it can and will actually make a useful contribution or is the charity really just a self-propagating machine, using the money to advertise the problem, in order to attract more money?

Charity Navigatory has answered a few of the questions. For example, the American Cancer Institute has a 3/4 star rating and only 1 star for efficiency. Most of the money gets wrapped up in red tape it seems. Other similar charities such as the Kidney Cancer Association seem to fare much better (although they are significantly smaller.) Charities like the Scripps Research Institute, seem to spend quite a bit more on direct biomedical research.

I’d still prefer to know exactly where the ‘program’ money is used. 99% of the money could be spent for cancer research, but really just be going to a guy who wikipedias ‘cancer’ all day long. That would technically meet the conditions but hardly helps the world. I’m sure that’s not the case for any of these large, well-established charities, but, and you can call me picky, I’d really prefer to know EXACTLY where the money goes. I want to fund research, which means I want the dollar I spent to go to a doctor or a lab tech or a college that is performing actual medical/pharmaceutical tests for treatments or cures. That kind of breakdown seems rather hard to get a hold of.

Ultimately, I prefer more direct forms of charity. Giving to those that I know need it or can I use it. That’s tough to find, but much more fulfilling, for me anyway. This Charity Navigator is pretty great though. If I ever give a donation anywhere, I’ll be doing just a little bit of research first.