A great tool for locating a local charity is Charity Navigator.

Charity Navigator is a national service that evaluates charities of all types, in all regions of the country, and whose work impacts all corners of the globe.

Charity Navigator uses five simple guidelines for choosing which charities to evaluate. It's not an exhaustive list, but it's a great place to start if you're looking for a local charity to support.

If you want to see how it works, you can read a recent article on St. Anne's Social Service Agency and then locate their rating on Charity Navigator.

Another great resource is the multilingual Idealist - an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, and locate opportunities and supporters. With one click of the mouse, the site is immediately translated into Spanish or French.

Then there's GreatNonprofits - often referred to as the 'Zagat' or 'Yelp' of the nonprofit world where users share information by reviewing the organizations whose services they have used.

GreatNonprofits partnered with nonprofit clearinghouse Guidestar - the granddaddy of nonprofit databases that connects people with more than one million 501(c)(3) organizations on its website.

Happy charity surfing!

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