Question about environmental charities

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My birthday is rapidly approaching, and this year I decided that, in place of buying a gift, I want my parents to put money toward helping the environment. However, I realize that many "charities", regardless of their stated intent, use more money for themselves rather than their cause. There are many charities that proclaim they exist to help nature, but I do not trust all of them. Which environmental/animal-related organizations can I trust to do the right thing? Also, what good do they do with the money they receive (in other words, how do they help?)

I usually hear it referred to as how much of each dollar goes to charity. When Katrina hit New Orleans there was a lot of talk around this, If you donate to Red Cross, it's something like 80-85 cents of every dollar going to operations costs (paid salaries, office workers, ads etc), less than 20 cents of every dollar you give them is actually used for charity.

I'd guess, being that any registered charity has to make all their financial records public (in america at least), you can call them and they probably have that kind of info ready to give out (probably even on their website if they have one).


My personal suggestion, your local non-euthanizing animal shelter/humane society. Just call them up, make sure they dont put animals to sleep, and donate to them (even some of your own time, they always need help).