The dilemma faced by generous people

Over a 10-day period around Christmas, 75 charities solicited my 97-year-old mother-in-law. My wife and I received just 15. My curiosity was aroused. Why such a difference? What should she and others like her do?

So I read the solicitations, sorted them, and researched each charity at Charity Navigator’s website. Its system rates charities on a zero-to-four scale, with four being the highest rating.

The solicitation mailers varied from simple letters to large boxes, with some including gifts or up to 50 cents in cash neatly glued to the appeal.

Only three charities had names that sounded “fishy,” and several were well-known ones, including those fighting diseases. The charity’s quality had no obvious correlation to the artistic and editorial quality of the mailer.

Stories targeting emotions dominated the letters, with visuals complementing those feelings. None of the charities included financial accountability numbers, although one suggested using Charity Navigator to check it out. None reported the percentage of donations going to beneficiaries even though my research showed it varied from a low of 6 percent to a high of 99 percent.

Here’s the stunning reality: 44 percent of the solicitations were from organizations rated zero by Charity Navigator, not rated at all, or on the watch list. Another 15 percent were rated only one or two, meaning almost 60 percent needed further investigation.

According to Arthur Brooks’ Who Really Cares, religious folks (those who attend worship nearly every week) give 3.4 times more to charity than their secular counterparts, and even give 14 percent more to secular charities.

These facts and observations create a dilemma for generous people: “How can we know where we should give?” Here are a few suggestions: