Authenticity of International Help Organizations?

UlfJack wonders: "I've been thinking about donating money, especially to organizations like Plan USA, who are doing what they can to help people in Third World countries. However I found it very difficult to check the authenticity of these organizations, so I'm trying to cross-check multiple independent sources. Has anyone figured out an easy way to do this?"

Comments

other ways to help

[same_old_story]

Of course giving money can make a difference.

But there are other ways to help (specially if you are an american citzen).

One great way is to make sure you vote / pressure you legislators / presidents towards broader / better foreing policy. For example, Brazil has held long disputes with the wto for the usa to stop anti competitive measures, such as heavy agricultural subsidies. There is much talk about open economies, but many developed countries put a lot of barries for third world countries to make a fair competition.

Simple.

[tod_miller]

Go to av.com, google.com, amazon.com and look for the organisation that they recommend.

Basically, trust comes not through computing, but through inplied trust.

You trust google to know which companies to link to.

Of course, a centralised website should exist that gives an easy API for charities to take donations, give feedback, be accountable and of course, this should be government run, and be worldwide, and have the IRS (the only people you can really trust when it comes ot money, and by IRS I mean the inland revenue of your country) poking at it with a big stick.

that is my opinion. for now, look at av.com and donate to thier link button.

CBF certification

[RogerWilco]

In the Netherlands we have the CBF certificate program
http://www.cbf.nl/ (in dutch)
http://www.cbf.nl/pages/cbf-erkende_goede_ doelen/m et_cbf-keur.php
gives a list in Dutch of certified organisations.

One of their criteria is that overhead costs for advertizing, organisation, etcetera should be less that 25% of the average last 3 years collected funds. I think this limit is a little high, but it gives a valid criterium.

A lot of USA based organisations fail this test. Certified organisations are Amnesty Internantional, Greenpeace, Medecins sans Frontieres (Artsen zonder grenzen), OXFAM (NOVIB), UNICEF, WarChild, WWF (WNF), Red Cross.

Furthermore you could look at how and who forms the board of directors, income of the director, publicly available financial information. Stuff that can give you cues about accountability.

Re:CBF certification

[RogerWilco]

I found a list of overhead percentages here:
http://www.karthick.com/relief.html