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.
Talk.
And not just to the money-collectors. Talk to the recipients and would-be recipients, if at all possible. See how much of a result is made. Obviously if you're doing something like supporting local authors/artists/scientists, the collector is often the recipient, it's direct, but for other things, you can learn a lot with even a passing conversation. The "friendly" homeless prefer one soup kitchen, apparently the others get the crazies too often and the operators don't stop the bad behavior.