Steve O'Brien is a well known radio/TV personality in New York City.
Story Created:
Sep 23, 2008 at 12:18 PM CST
Story Updated:
Sep 23, 2008 at 2:08 PM CST
((Brian's Note: Steve O'Brien is one of the most durable broadcasters I have ever met. He has spent most of his career in New York City, working in radio at WABC-AM and WCBS-FM. He has also served as a news anchor and contributor on television for both WNYW and WNBC.))
Thank Heavens Americans are so generous. Even with the stock market leaping around like a crazed lunatic, many people continue to be aware of others in need. But, who monitors charities? Who helps us determine whether our dollars are being spent wisely?
If you are lucky (and talented) enough to maintain your job and career, you may not always have the time to research the real impact of your dollars. For example, is the CEO of your favorite non-profit raking in a huge salary while the organization wastes too much on superfluous expenses? If you love animals, is that charity you've been sharing your hard-earned cash with really among the best in helping animals, or are they just better about advertising themselves?
Presumably, you don't have time to do extensive research on those and other questions, so what do you do? Plus, with holidays approaching, we are more likely than ever to fall victim to scams that masquerade as legitimate charities.
One way to preserve your peace of mind - as well as the quality of your donations, is to spend a few minutes online with www.charitynavigator.org. Every year, I remind people about this marvelous service.
Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator is now the America’s largest and most used evaluator of charities. Their team of professional analysts closely examine documents from tens of thousands of non-profits. So, they know as much about the operations of charities as anyone. Their research helped them develop an unbiased, objective rating system to assess the financial health of over 5,000 of America's best-known charities.
Are there charities you now donate to – or are considering? Want to know how effective they are at putting the maximum amount of your dollars where they are most needed? Like to keep a list of your favorite organizations so you can rotate your donations? Perhaps you want to compare charities within categories to spread your donations more effectively. This is one of the best means I have found in recent years to quickly search among charities and decide which I want to donate to.
You will also find articles that help explain your tax advantages, current info on helping victims of hurricane Ike and faith-based giving. If nothing else, you will see www.charitynavigator.org is a wonderful site to start conversations. Like to know the top ten fastest growing charities? Most over-rated? Maybe you’d like to read tips on how to maximize your dollar donations or how to avoid online scams and get off annoying mailing lists. It’s all there and a lot more. Many of us don’t have a great deal of spare cash, so it’s increasingly important that we make the most of our donations. Some of the information may surprise you, but it will be well worth a few minutes of your time to take a look.
((Brian's Note: Steve O'Brien is a heckuva nice guy and has endured questions from me about the history of Top 40 radio on numerous occassions. Thanks Steve for being a friend! Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an e-mail by clicking here.))
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