The other day, I logged into my checking account and noticed that $5 that I did not remember spending had been deducted. I was confused at first but soon realized that the Cancer Research Institute had taken my monthly donation. Although the money would have gone to two greasy, yet delicious, Mariella’s pizza slices, I often wonder if what I give is making a difference.

Successful businesses, ones that donate exponentially more than my college-student-on-a-budget dinner, may have more of a concern. It’s becoming a kind of tradition for people and businesses to, if they want to help out a cause, simply give money to a non-profit and let them do all of the work. But do we even know how the money is being spent, or what percentage is actually passed onto the cause that we seek to help? Most of the time, people, and I am guilty of this too, give and look away.

It’s an odd thing to do, right? My assumption is that we think the donation is in good hands, and that,well, we did our part.

With the ambiguity of what happens after money is donated and how donators seem to be out of the loop of exactly how they are making a difference raises the questions of how effective is donating to charities and non-profit organizations is, and, if we are not even sure where the money goes, why do we do it? Is it purely for the particular cause? Or, is it just to make us feel all good inside knowing that we did the right thing? Do prosperous businesses do it because it makes them look good, and donations are tax deductible?

I’d suggest it’s somewhere in between the warm and fuzzy feeling we get and the genuine wishes for the advancement of the charity. After all, deciding what charities we give to is solely the choice of the donator.

To further the question of how effective it is, maybe a business that donates to a particular charity could have spent the money more efficiently on a salary, providing an unemployed person with a much needed job. Maybe an international educational charity means to help students of low-income families in India and Africa, but ends up spending most of its donations on travel, rent and billing expenses, employee salaries, advertisements, etc. In these cases, it does not seem so effective.

But not all charities are in this predicament. They may not reach their monthly goal, but as donators, we’d like to think that something was accomplished in some way. Even if it is contributing to the income of a person who spends all day, working for what you and I go to college not to get paid, in order to help.

What if this is not good enough? How can a student who is taking five classes, working part time, and involved in different clubs change the charity system?

He/she probably can’t, and this is maybe a bother for some people, especially when it comes down to international charities. On a global level, results are harder to see. I see my monthly contributions to Obama for America put to use every day. The TV ad mocking Mitt Romney’s goal to end PBS (“Big. Yellow. A menace to our economy.”) to Obama’s dinners with celebrities like Jay-Z and Sarah Jessica Parker, are prime examples. But when it comes to giving $10 that will give a boy in Indonesia a shirt, I wouldn’t see its effect.

How can businesses, who tirelessly work all year to make the profit that goes to the charities, be more involved, if at all?

Peter Singer, a moral philosopher,  would say that people should spread the wealth and continue to give to global initiatives, and I’d agree with that. But I’d also suggest that donors try to become more involved and ask more questions. I think we have a fear of coming off as pushy or insensitive. To some, it may seem challenging to ask questions to a representative of an organization that helps victims of, say, sex trafficking, because of this idea that we will seem overbearing or doubtful of the organization to yield positive results in social change. But there are sites like GiveWell dedicated to judging the effectiveness of charities.

We are not doing the issue any justice by not getting any further involved. Instead of donating money, maybe a company who has a successful research team can give their skills to a charity that is trying figure out what is ineffective in Nicaragua’s literacy programs. This way, a company is spreading the wealth, aka knowledge, and at the same time they are learning more about a cause that they were going to give a monetary donation to.

In the end, it’s better to give in some way, shape or form, than to not. And if we feel uneasy about asking questions concerning our efforts, we should pretend like we’re asking a professor what the grade break down is for his/her class. We don’t mind doing that!