gangandealer, on 18 November 2011 - 05:47 AM, said:
But sometimes I wonder if the money that we donate actually end up going to charities and in actually helping the world.
Charity Navigator is the way to find out. You can type in any charity and see a detailed report on how much money they bring in with fundraisers and so forth, see how much they spend on administration, how much goes to their actual programs, and more. The whole point of Charity Navigator is to act as a watchdog so people can make informed decisions about where to place their charity dollars. They give grades to charities. It's an awesome way to find worthwhile groups that do a great job with putting they money they get back into the world.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
The Nature Conservancy does fairly well but you can also compare similar environmental charities on the site - they have a tool for that - and donate to the ones you think do the best job.