It seems everyone wants our money.

As the holiday season approached, my husband and I were inundated with mailings and telephone calls requesting donations for a multitude of charities, including quite a few unfamiliar to us.

I am sure some organizations we supported in the past sold their donor lists to similar organizations, and soon the pleas for help (along with calendars, address labels and greeting cards) began stacking up on my desk.

Even my late husband, gone more than 25 years, received some appeals for money. Good luck with that!

But before opening the checkbook to make a contribution, I like to research how nonprofits spend donors’ money. That’s why I didn’t make any donations over the holidays. We were too busy to look at the organizations’ ratings.

Charity is big business. People donate hundreds of millions of dollars each year to nonprofit organizations, often without giving much thought to how the money will be used and how much difference that charity is making in the world.

Once our Christmas decorations were put away and our entertaining slowed to a trickle, I started wading through the inches-high pile of requests.

Solicitations that arrived by phone were easier to deal with. I just turned them down. In most cases, the telemarketers were being paid to solicit funds for charities. I prefer to make a donation directly to the organization, cutting out the middleman.

I have read of some telemarketing companies that keep up to 90 percent of donations they solicit on behalf of nonprofits. The charity gets only crumbs. That is ridiculous.

I don’t like to feel pressured to hand over my money, and that includes both phone and in-person requests. If such a pitch sounds interesting, I will ask for literature on the organization and its finances and mission, so I can do research before deciding. If my request is denied, I won’t support the organization. And again, if I do choose to donate after checking out the charity, I will mail the check directly to the charity.

A few folks I know never give away their money. They don’t trust any charity, but these individuals are in the minority. Most people are generous and feel especially charitable during the holidays. They derive a good feeling from helping their favorite causes.

Reasons people donate to nonprofits vary widely. Some folks want to make a difference. Others want to give back to society, especially if they themselves were once recipients of good deeds.

Other individuals feel a sense of duty to help the less fortunate. Some donors give out of tradition or habit or to get a tax deduction.

Whatever the reason, it is best to make sure the charity is using its donations wisely and not wasting our money.

Personally, I want at least 80 percent of an organization’s donations to be allocated to its programs, not to salaries or fundraising. I look for accountability and transparency and proven results.

Several charity rating services grade nonprofit organizations on their spending and services, but grades may vary among them, depending on what data and financial disclosures are examined. Therefore, I look for consistently good grades from several rating sources. CharityWatch.org, CharityNavigator.org and Give.org may be good sites to start researching charities’ programs and financial activities. A few other rating sites include GuideStar.org, MinistryWatch.com and GreatNonprofits.org.

Donors are well advised to be skeptics and closely look at several ratings before opening their checkbooks. Be sure the contributions that make you feel good are being used to do good.

Give with your head as well as your heart.