How to vet a charity in 10 minutes
A practical checklist for checking any charity before you give: identity, finances, evidence of impact, and the red flags that should stop you cold.
Donor protectionCharity scams: the red flags that matter
How charity scams actually work — sound-alike names, pressure tactics, untraceable payments — and the checks that defeat nearly all of them.
AnalysisThe overhead myth: why low admin costs aren't everything
Program-spending ratios are the most quoted number in charity — and one of the most misleading. What overhead can and can't tell you, and what to look at instead.
Data analysisWhere $100 does the most good, according to charities' own numbers
We compared the published cost-per-outcome figures of the charities we rank. Here's what $100 buys — from 50 bednets to two years of literacy programming — and what these numbers can and can't tell you.
TransparencyWhy we corrected our own impact figures
In July 2026 we audited every cost-per-outcome figure on this site against each charity's own published claims. Some of our numbers were wrong. Here's what we found, what we changed, and the policy that now governs every figure we show.