Charity Begins At...

Philanthropy Online Means Not Only Committing Money, But Time - to Check Out the Identity of the Recipient

Angela Gunn Consumer Reports WebWatch Web Ethics Columnist>

Ethicists love to write about charity, because charity is one of those acts that has effects (and, often, causes) that most ethicists like. Since this column focuses on ethics and online credibility, let's take a look at why you, the generous and ethical soul, should use the Net's informational resources to pinpoint a worthy recipient for your largesse. After all, just because you don't expect to get anything for your expenditure doesn't mean you shouldn't expect at least as much from a charity as you would from a company from which you purchased goods and services — namely, that the organization is who it says and that it uses your money for its intended purpose.

Telling you where to donate, of course, is beyond the scope of this column, but it's worth mentioning that a number of Web sites have cropped up in recent months that ask for what we might call "one-on-one" donations. The "savekaryn.com" site, on which a young Brooklyn, N.Y., spendthrift (successfully!) asked visitors to send her money to bail her out of $20,000 in credit-card debt, is an example of one such Net appeal. It is also perhaps even an example of honesty about where online donations were actually going. (No one can say that the lady was dishonest — she blew her salary on shoes, she couldn't manage her money, she asked for a handout. Would that all requests were so honest.)

Charity, on the other hand, requires thought. Anyone with a mailbox knows that this time of year brings dozens of requests for donations, many of them for excellent causes. Few of us have the resources to give to every cause, so we debate their merits and our resources: Is it too late to take this box of clothes to Goodwill? Is it okay to boycott any charity that sends out those personalized address labels? (Answer to last question: It should be.) And yet another important question: Is the charitable Web site asking for my donation in fact going to use my donation for charitable acts? How do I know the online charity is who it says it is?

Such investigation of an organization's identity is generally more than you're asked to do when you walk by the bell-ringing Salvation Army Santa in front of the mall. But with great power comes great responsibility, as they say. The Net makes giving simple, and makes shady appeals simple, too. It's your responsibility to know what you're doing, and to not get lost in a fog of self-satisfaction when performing acts of benevolence.

Indeed, the Web is unique as both a place where we can donate to charity and a place where we can evaluate charitable concerns. In the offline world, when you're approached to give, you're generally not simultaneously presented with the charity's credentials. Instead, you learn to recognize the visual clues of "legitimate" charities (the bell and coin bucket of Salvation Army Santas, for example) and use those as shorthand to confirm the legitimacy of the request.

Cautious souls planning to donate online will check out the ownership of the site itself to see that the site, too, is legitimate. One way to do this is by using the "Whois" function at the Network Solutions site to ensure that the site is registered to charity representatives. (Hint: if the site claims to be run by nuns but the administrative contact listed for the domain is Bubba's Online Adult Services, something's not right).

The Independent Sector, a coalition of non-profit organizations and foundations, says when giving online, you should check to see that the Web site offers: both online and offline contact information; confirmation of your gift by e-mail (with snail-mail confirmation on request — a real plus for tax season); secure connections when you type in your credit-card info; and a good privacy policy. Check the site's "About Us" page to find out more about its leadership and mission. Finally, dig into Google or another search engine to find news articles or other information on what the organization has been up to — and if they've done anything that casts a shadow over their work.

Alternately, you might consider giving through an online clearinghouse that handles donations for several nonprofit organizations. One example of this is Network for Good, which works with over 850,000 charities.

Be as smart giving online as you are when you shop online. Your extra legwork will ensure, as much as possible, that your generosity goes to its intended cause.

***

Gunn is the co-founder of, and former Internet ethics columnist for, Yahoo! Internet Life and is currently the technology editor for Time Out New York weekly magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for PC Magazine, MSNBC.com, The Industry Standard, Business 2.0, CNN.com, Seattle Weekly, LA Weekly, and other publications.