The proliferation of nonprofit organizations, many with similar missions, is making it harder these days to figure out which organizations to support. Just look at the number of direct-mail solicitations that the average household receives. The latest data available from The National Center for Charitable Statistics show that the number of nonprofit organizations in Hawai'i is nearing 7,000 — a 33 percent increase over eight years.

According to the Hawai'i Community Foundation's Hawai'i Giving Study, the No. 1 motivation for giving among Hawai'i households is that we believe the organization we support is best-suited for the job (69 percent). And with average annual charitable contributions from Hawai'i households hovering at about $1,000, it makes sense to do some homework. Most of us spend time researching and comparison-shopping before spending a similar amount on a computer or television; when giving to a charitable organization, we should exercise the same amount of time and care.

There are several ways to assess whether the charity that you're considering giving to is the best fit.

First, you can look at indicators that demonstrate whether an organization is efficient at how it secures and spends resources. An organization's financial statement, annual report and tax return are a good start. Although reporting changes are being made to the Form 990 that nonprofit organizations use to report their financial information to the Internal Revenue Service to improve transparency, quantifiable measures are only a part of the picture for a nonprofit.

Second, donors can look for indicators that will show how effective an organization is at meeting its mission. For some organizations, these indicators can be easily measurable, especially when their focus lends itself to things like the number of acres saved for a nature preserve or the number of kids in an afterschool program. "Solutions," on the other hand, that focus on putting an end to a root problem like poverty, are much harder to measure. It's important to note that one isn't necessarily better than the other and that the donor's preference is the key.

In a recent interview, the incoming president of the Weinberg Foundation noted the following about the late philanthropist Harry Weinberg: "The creator of this foundation made a comment once that has been repeated very often that, in effect, went like this: While many people are trying to figure out the root causes of poverty, there are people out there starving, and I want to take care of those people."

For nonprofit organizations, not everything that can be measured is important and not everything that is important can be measured. By the nature of what nonprofits do, anecdotal information is also significant. Sharing of anecdotes can help donors identify with and connect to an organization on an emotional level and can reveal progress and achievement in a manner that is often not quantifiable. For example, interviews with current and former clients can be helpful in providing firsthand stories about how a client's life was changed for the better as a result of the program.

With so many organizations out there, donors need to be able to process the rational and emotional information of nonprofit organizations to make a thoughtful charitable gift. Considering the generosity of our community and its potential to change lives and better itself, the more donors treat charitable contributions like any other household investment, the more we all stand to gain.

Kelvin H. Taketa is president and CEO of the Hawai'i Community Foundation. E-mail him at kelvin@hcf-hawaii.org.