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I used to give to one well-known charity all the time, until one year (back in the early '80's) I asked for an audited financial statement, which they sent to me. Of the almost $33 million the charity collected, only a little over $18,700 ended up going to the target audience of the charity...the rest was "administrative and advertising costs". The Salvation Army is one of the best charities you can give to, with one of the lowest admin costs of any charity. Word to the wise: If a charity won't give you an audited financial statement, they don't deserve your money.

I had a co-worker a number of years ago who donated only to the Salvation Army. He had done research on a number of well-known charitable organizations and found the same thing: that a far larger percentage of donations to the SA actually went to help people than was true of other organizations. He found that their "administrative costs" were quite low and that they did not waste money on high salaries and perks for executives.

He personally was agnostic but had no problem with their religious message since they actually "put their money where their mouth is."