One of the nice things about giving regularly to charitable organizations is that I have no guilt about saying "no" to most of the requests that seem to flood my mailbox this time of year.

I don't give money to organizations that try to guilt me with pictures of big-eyed children. I don't give money to organizations that waste their money sending me cheap, pointless gewgaws. I'm far more likely to give money to organizations who are attempting to create grassroots systems-change, such as providing micro-loans to African women to allow them to buy sewing machines or a few more chickens than to give money to disaster-relief or food-handout type of charities (although I do support America's Second Harvest because I despise the idea of healthful food going to waste simply because it isn't pretty enough to be displayed in the produce aisle of Vons.)

Still, there are an awful lot of charities out there. To help decide how to get the best bang for my buck, I'm very happy to recommend Charity Navigator. It gives excellent information regarding thousands of charities, grouping them by cause and ranking them in terms of financial acumen and sustainability.

Go. Research. Give.