What You Should Know Before MakingCharity Donations Online from nickmiddleton's blog

Making noble charity donationsonline is a fast and helpful way, yet it likewise goes with downsides that givers should know about. With the rising cases of cybercrimes, you have to exercise caution before making your donations online. After all, the last thing you want is to fall for an online scam when trying to make the world a better place.

You don’t have to push yourself to the limit for this to happen. A simple research into what goes into online charity donations will certainly help do the trick. To help you donate online both effectively and safely, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Online or offline, never should you give to a charity that you know nothing about. Take it upon yourself to look for a mission statement, a clear description of program accomplishments, and a list of the board of directors. Never assume a web address with an ‘.org’ rather than a ‘.com’ ending is a non-profit organization.

In this modern day and age, anyone can buy a ‘.org’ web address. To be sure if a group has tax-exempt status, visit the Internal Revenue Service’s website. That way, you can make your donation tax deductible.

Always look for a privacy policy and read it carefully. Skimp on this, and you may learn too late that the privacy policy doesn’t really safeguard your privacy, Before sharing personal information, especially your credit card number, find out how the website plans to use your information and if it plans to sell or exchange it.

It’s not adequate protection for the charity to agree to not sell your information is its vendor operating the sites doesn’t also agree to respect your privacy. Ensure the charity gives you an ‘opt in’ or at least an ‘opt out’ option. Anything other than this is something to be worried about.

Making your charity donations online come with its share of repercussions. That’s why you should give it the deserved attention to avoid falling into the hands of scammers. Don’t be intimidated by online giving since it has the potential for enormous good by saving billions of dollars in fundraising costs and allowing charities to more efficiently communicate with donors.

By following these tips, rest in knowing you can minimize the chance of potential problems and have a safe and secure online giving experience.