Verify that the charity is legitimate.<\/strong> Identify the correct name of the charity; many scammers establish fake charities with names that sound similar to real organizations\u2019 names. Consult the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator and GuideStar. Also look for audits, annual reports and 990 tax forms on the charity\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Ask for a tour.<\/strong> A reputable charity will happily show you around and answer your questions.<\/p>\n Sign up for updates<\/strong> informing donors of how gifts were used and what outcomes were achieved with the donated funds.<\/p>\n Protect your bank account and social security numbers.<\/strong> Charities don\u2019t need this information to process your gift.<\/p>\n Take immediate action if you suspect you\u2019ve been affected by fraud.<\/strong> Call your bank and credit card companies and freeze your accounts. They\u2019ll work with you to resolve your situation.<\/p>\n Donate in response to a hard sell.<\/strong> Don\u2019t respond to anyone who says you \u201cmust\u201d donate today or offers to pick up a check. A reputable charity will accept a gift today, next week, next month or even next year, and won\u2019t pressure you.<\/p>\n Make an online donation using a public wireless network.<\/strong> Use a password-protected network y<\/em> verify that the donation page is secure: look for \u201chttps\u201d in the URL and trust seals on the page. Before entering any personal info, double check that you\u2019ve typed the URL correctly. If you click on an email link from a trusted sender, double check that you\u2019ve arrived at the organization\u2019s real website.<\/p>\n Use your debit card, send cash or wire funds.<\/strong> If fraud is committed against your credit card, you can dispute the charges. If fraud is committed against your debit card, the funds are much harder to retrieve.<\/p>\n Give to \u201cpop up\u201d charities.<\/strong> Don\u2019t respond to on-the-spot donation requests from people in front of stores, even if they tell you that you\u2019re helping people affected by natural disasters or recent tragedies. If the cause piques your interest, do some research. If the charity is legitimate, you\u2019ll be able to mail a check or donate securely online.<\/p>\n Give any personal info over the phone or to door-to-door solicitors.<\/strong> Caller identification is easy for scammers to fake; even if they appear to be calling from a real charity, it\u2019s not necessarily true. As with \u201cpop up\u201d charities, if the organization sounds like one you\u2019d like to support, do some research first.<\/p>\n You have a finite amount of hard-earned dollars that you can afford to donate, and you want those dollars to make the greatest impact possible. Trust your instincts and don\u2019t be afraid to ask for clarification on statistics, details on tangible impacts and client stories or testimonials. Even if privacy or anonymity must be maintained, a reputable charity will have anecdotes that are \u201csafe\u201d for sharing.<\/p>\n Bottom line: you\u2019re giving away your<\/em> hard-earned money for something you believe in. You decide where and when it goes.<\/p>\n Charities that are worth donating to respect and appreciate this, and will respect and appreciate usted<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u2014 For more than two decades, Paul Downey has been a national advocate for low-income seniors as well as the president and CEO of Serving Seniors, a nonprofit agency dedicated for more than 45 years to increasing the quality of life for San Diego seniors living in poverty. Learn more at servidandoseniors.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Paul Downey The air is chilly. You\u2019re humming holiday songs. You\u2019re calculating how much vacation time you\u2019ve accrued. The holiday season has arrived! Amid the festivities, it\u2019s time to decide on end-of-year donations. But in today\u2019s segmented world, with countless charities for every cause, how do you pick the right one? For starters, look […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":239735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Guest Editorial: Make your donation count \u2013 10 tips for holiday giving","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11552,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/836"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Don\u2019t<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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