Once your clients feel confident they have an understanding of the nonprofit landscape, they will be well-positioned to create a short list of organizations aligned with their charitable giving priorities and goals.

3. Understand approaches for maximizing impact

Now that your clients have a list of key organizations supporting the causes they care about, they should understand how each of these organizations advance change and measure impact.

Help clients consider how their philanthropic goals and values align with these different approaches:

• Organizations that provide goods and services, such as women’s shelters, soup kitchens, and health clinics, engage directly with beneficiaries.
• Organizations that promote knowledge, such as think tanks, public awareness campaigns, and higher education institutions, support the generation and dissemination of research and applied knowledge.
• Advocacy and movement-building organizations address structural and systemic causes of a problem. For example, campaigns for nutritional labels on foods aim to mitigate public health issues.

While many organizations promote change using a variety of tactics, this framework tends to help donors sort and categorize charities, and ultimately develop a small group of organizations to thoroughly vet.

4. Evaluate and vet charities

It’s time to help clients conduct due diligence and look for any red flags. Thoroughly vetting charities will give clients confidence that their funding decisions will support their charitable goals.

To vet a charity, keep the following key considerations and questions in mind:

• Legal status - Is the organization legally registered as a charitable organization?
• Organization history - Does the organization have any negative press coverage about its history or experience?
• Strategy - Have there been any repeated changes in an organization’s strategy and vision?
• Programs and services - Are programs or services spread across multiple, disconnected issues and focus areas?
• Governance and management – Does senior staff have relevant experience? Have there been a series of major changes in leadership positions or any conflicts of interest with board members?
• Financials - Does the nonprofit fundraise from a diversified stream of donors, and track and manage its budget efficiently? Does it have any unexplained financial volatility?
• Monitoring and evaluation - Is the organization intentional about assessing, learning from, and improving their work to the best of their capacities?