<prompt> Human: Hi Everyone,In a week or so Im going to be getting my tax return and after much thought I want to give about half of it 1.5k to charity. It is probably debatable if this is the best use of my money, but I feel like now that I am old enough to pay my own health insurance and my debts are pretty insignificant, I want to use my money to make a difference in the world even if only a small one. I have some questions about this: Where do you all donate? How do you determine what is a worthwhile cause? What percentage of your income do you give?  <response>: I posted something similar at the end of the year I start by figuring out what causes I really value the most. Then I find a reputable organizations doing work in that area which have good Charity Navigator ratings andor that are vouched for by people I trust. Bonus points to organizations that do community-targeted work in my area. In addition to the above, I value hands-on workprograms. Im not a big fan of organizations whose primary mission appears to be something like raising awareness. Right now Im donating 1-2 a year. My goal this year is to actually get involved more, in terms of volunteering time. Good for you for considering using your refund to make a difference. Id suggest figuring out what causes really mean a lot to you personally and then narrowing it down from there. Its fine to ask people for recommendations, but itll be more meaningful if you really believe in the issue. Oh, and bigger chunks of money and sustaining gifts are much more valuable to charities, so consider giving one bigger gift to one or two charities, rather than a bunch of 5 donations to a whole bunch of different organizations. 