By being more strategic in your charitable giving, you can get “more bang for the buck” with your contributions. Start by determining your charitable goals, then specific criteria to select charities to support. 

What impact do you want to have?
Write down the issues you’d like your charitable giving to impact – these are your ‘charitable goals’. For example, you might want to:
- Combat poverty
- Improve women’s status around the world by educating girls
- Support your own children’s education
- Give to your local food bank

Deciding on the type of charities to support
There are many ways to affect change - some more direct than others. To combat poverty you could support advocacy groups which aim to change laws and policies, agencies which give direct aid to individuals, job training programs, etc.  Give some thought to the types of charities you’d like to support.

Write down the characteristics of your ideal charity
Just as there are huge differences among colleges or companies, not-for-profits also vary widely. Ideally, what characteristics would you like a not-for-profit you support to have? Here are some of the qualifications I require of any organization I give money to: 
- Gives me information on how my dollars are being spent
- Has clearly articulated projects and goals
- Doesn’t require much money from me to make a difference
- Doesn’t call or send me endless direct mail solicitations asking for money