Scammers and charitable donations

 I wanted to touch on the devastating tornadoes that hit communities in Kentucky and five other states. My warning has to do with scammers taking advantage of people wanting to help. If you want to send money and make sure it gets to a legitimate organization, remember to check reviews on watchdog websites, such as Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance (Give.org). You can also check out GuideStar, which presents a snapshot, including balance-sheet data, program descriptions and links to financial documents. On GuideStar, charities are asked to answer five questions to assess their potential impact and five questions about board oversight and performance. Be wary of solicitations that come to you via email or text—some may be phishing scams or other types of fraud. If you see a contact number listed on a solicitation, check if it matches what’s on the charity’s website. You can also use the BBB’s scam tracker system to check out charities. Type in “charity” in the keyword search bar and you’ll see an index of the most recently reported scams via zip code. Really using these websites to make sure a charity is what it says it is, is a good idea anytime you want to make a donation to a worthy cause.