The occasional downer

Sorry, gotta do it every so often. We all know the nonprofit field isn't a bunch of roses anyway. Unfortunately.

When we think of bad guys embezzling loads of $$$, we think Enron-esque companies, right? But it's a problem in nonprofits, too -- fraud in the "good-guy" sector amounts to $40 billion a year. That's 13 percent of philanthropic giving! (No, unfortunately I'm not April fooling you.)

This certainly can't inspire a ton of confidence in donors, when many are already skeptical of the ways nonprofits spend their money.

They probably won't admit to any shady business here, but one step toward giving with confidence is free services that evaluate nonprofits on a whole bunch of criteria, including the efficiency of which they use their donations (i.e. how much goes to programming vs. buying pens for the office).

Check out Charity Navigator, the biggie, or look for similar services in your state -- here in Minnesota, we have the Charities Review Council. It's not perfect, but it's a start!