It’s dinnertime, and the phone rings. A solicitor in a noisy room is seeking your donation for a charitable organization you have never heard of, but which appears to be a worthy cause. The solicitor says that the charity provides important assistance to police officers, firefighters or veterans, or helps cancer patients or disabled children. How do you know that the charity is legitimate, and that your donation would be used wisely and effectively?

It’s possible that the caller is a paid solicitor working for a professional fund-raising company that raises money for various charities and may well take as much as 90 percent of the donations for itself. Even worse, by the time the charity pays its overhead and compensates its own managers, it may spend less than 5 percent of the donations to engage in the charitable services it supposedly provides. There are even sham charities, which spend nothing at all on the services promised.

These deceptive fund-raising practices affect all of us. Not only do they thwart the generous intent of donors to meaningfully assist those in need, but they also victimize the many legitimate charitable organizations in our country and communities that perform vital services. These charities often work very efficiently, spending modestly on fund-raising and administration, while devoting the vast majority of donations directly to the important services they provide. Those organizations deserve our gratitude and our support. Unfortunately, a dollar diverted to a phony charity is a dollar not available to a worthy charity.

How can you tell whether the charity you’re being asked to support will make good use of your contribution? Here are some tips to avoid being duped by deceptive fund-raisers:

n Ask for the name and location of the company that is calling you and ask what percent of donations they keep for themselves. If they won’t tell you, that is a good reason not to donate.

n Ask where the charity is located. Don’t assume your donation will be used in your community just because your check goes to a local address. Often the donation checks are simply forwarded out of state to the fund-raiser’s actual location.

n Do not be misled by copycat names that are similar to those of legitimate, established charities. This can be part of the deception.

n Don’t be misled by a false claim that you have donated previously. If you cannot remember doing so, ask for the specifics (date and amount) of your donation.

n Request written information about the charity before you make a decision. Legitimate charities generally will provide such information. Phony charities usually will not.

There are resources available for investigating a charity, particularly on the Internet. One such site is http://www.Guidestar.org, which posts financial reports of charities. You can also find out whether a charity or fund-raiser is registered and obtain other information on the website of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing, http://drl.wi.gov/ index.htm.

Now more than ever it is critical for all of us to support the many charities in our communities who perform tremendously important and valuable work. It is equally critical that we not allow the scammers to prey on the great generosity of Wisconsin residents by siphoning off donations simply to enrich themselves.