The past few years, I've been donating to a charity that focuses on helping children who have cancer. I did a fair amount of research and feel confident that they use the funds better than most charities.
I also look around for local charities and donate a bit for things like sports equipment and whatnot.
Just thought I'd see what others are doing and maybe change it up this year.
All charities are required to report where the money goes. It’s usually easy to find those reports. Some put a lot of money into administration like you said, but many don’t.
I wouldn’t just assume your local groups use the money wisely
indeed they are, but even then it's easy to hide just how much of the money actually goes to the stated goal. Take American Red Cross for example (https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/about-us/publications/2022-publications/FY2022_Red_Cross_Financial_Statement_FINAL.pdf):
in 2022, they reported over $2million for "Biomedical Services". services to who? what experiments or treatments were administered? how much of that money went to overhead versus actually purchasing supplies? there's no way to tell from the report.
as for local charities, I personally know people who benefit from the food bank I donate to. I personally know the church and know they are genuine. I use the trails maintained by the trail association constantly, and they are kept in good condition.
Publicly traded companies have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, but that doesn't stop the C-suite from getting creative with their accounting so they get their bonuses (see: Nvidia).