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BBB gives Tips for Donating wisely on GivingTuesday

Better Business Bureau - BBBNashville, TN – The week following Thanksgiving isn’t only about shopping. Thanks to GivingTuesday, it’s now a part of a global movement to support charity and support those doing good. 
 
Taking place annually on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Directly after Cyber Monday, the GivingTuesday movement has helped raise more than $1 billion for online charitable giving worldwide since its creation in 2012. 
 
“There are over 1 million registered charities out there to pick from, and you will receive a lot of information from worthwhile initiatives this season,” says Robyn Householder. President and CEO of Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance at Give.org urges potential donors to research charities before giving to ensure their generous contributions to trustworthy organizations.
 
“The evaluations we provide give donors insight into charity trustworthiness, helping them make wiser giving decisions,” remarks Art Taylor, President and CEO of BBB WGA. “Holiday donations can make a real impact. Therefore, it’s critical that donors’ hard-earned dollars go to charities that operate ethically.”

Tips From the Wise Giving Alliance on GivingTuesday:

BBB Wise Giving Alliance is communicating the following tips to help donors ensure their generosity is well used:

  1. Watch out for name similarities. When charities seek support for the same cause, their names are often similar. Before you give, be sure you have the charity’s exact name to avoid a case of mistaken identity.
  2. Review the website carefully. A responsible charity will include the following facts on its website: its mission and programs, measurable goals, and concrete criteria that describe its achievements. You should also be able to find information on their finances. Keep in mind, the type of work a charity does will affect its costs.
  3. Avoid on-the-spot donation decisions from unfamiliar organizations. The holidays bring a higher frequency of donation requests outside public locations. Don’t succumb to pressure to make an immediate giving decision. Responsible organizations will welcome your gift tomorrow as much as they do today.
  4. Be wary of emotional appeals. Marketers have been known to exploit the holidays to make impassioned pleas to donors. Instead of making an impulse decision based on emotion, do some research first to verify that your selected charity operates ethically.
  5. Check with state charity officials. In many states, charities are required to register with the office of the attorney general before soliciting. Checking your state’s appropriate office is easy to detect if an organization is legitimate or not. You can find this information on the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO) website.
  6. Rely on standards-based evaluations. Charities can demonstrate trustworthiness by agreeing to in-depth evaluations such as the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability. Get free access to charity reports at Give.org.
  7. Research tax status. Don’t assume every organization claiming to do good is a tax-exempt charity. You can check an organization’s tax status with the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool. Also, make sure your contribution is tax-deductible.

For more information:

For more information on GivingTuesday and other giving days, see the cover story in the 2019 winter issue of the Wise Giving Guide.
 
Read the BBB Wise Giving Alliances recently released 2021 Give.org Donor Trust Report.
 
For more holiday tips, visit the BBB Holiday Tips page.

About BBB of Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky

For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. BBB provides objective advice, BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.3 million companies, 11,000 charity reviewsdispute resolution servicesalerts and educational information on topics affecting marketplace trust. 

Visit bbb.org for more information. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada and Mexico, including BBB Serving Middle TN and Southern KY, which was founded in 1961 and serves 45 counties in Middle TN and Southern KY.

Visit bbb.org for more information.

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