Giving for V-Day

For Valentine’s Day this year, I am going to propose to the Guy that instead of buying each other cheesy gifts, that we donate to a charity of our choice. I’ve donated to the Alzheimer’s Association in the past, and I’m considering that organization again. It might be nice to select an agricultural-based social enterprise start-up, since I’ve been reading a lot about those lately. So I started surfing around on charitynavigator.org and smartgivers.org – two great resources to evaluate where your dollars go furthest. My two additional honorable mentions are going to be FINCA International (a microlender dedicated to ending rural poverty) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, both of which were rated very highly on Charity Navigator. Looking at these sites does make you think about what your giving principles are based on. I do believe in institutional fixes and organizations devoted to lasting change rather than band-aids or disaster-relief organizations (not that they don’t good work). But beyond that, I’m not sure if I know of any other great criteria for selection other than low administrative costs and the like. Does anyone have a more thoughtful process for who they allocate funds to for charitable giving?