Giving Tuesday is a great opportunity to continue showing our thankfulness by passing those blessings along to others. But just as shoppers do on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, those who want to participate in Giving Tuesday want to make sure every dollar counts. Not everyone realizes there are ways you can research charities to make sure your money is going exactly where you want it to.

The easiest place to start is obviously the charity’s own website, or if they are a local charity/chapter of a larger charity, their Facebook page. How do they present themselves? Do they have a clear purpose statement? Do their priorities align with yours?

Once you’ve gathered the basic information and you think you know where you want to donate, you can dig deeper by looking up the charity’s records on sites like Charity Navigator, Guidestar.org (now Candid), or the Better Business Bureau’s charity site, Give.org. These sites can all give you insight into a charity’s reputation, tax history, and management, so you know you can give with the confidence that as much of your donation as possible is going to the cause rather than administration costs or other expenses. Some of the really in depth information is only available if you subscribe to these sites, but the key information you’ll need to know to be sure the charity you’ve chosen is legitimate and safe is free to look up. Charity Navigator can also provide you with recommendations for charities if you don’t know where you want to give through their “Discover Charities” tab.

So, if you have something to be thankful for this year, think about sharing that good fortune with others by checking out some worthy causes to give to this week!