You're listening to Life Kit, from NPR.

Hey everybody, it's Mary L.

I like to think of the holiday season as a generous time.

It's an opportunity to think about your friends and family,

to find them gifts they'll treasure.

And it can also be a time to show generosity to strangers,

to donate money to causes that matter to you. Maybe you give toward

cancer research or scholarships or food banks or maybe you want to provide housing

for low-income families. There's so many options.

And that's a beautiful thing,

but it can also be overwhelming.

You're not sure what's most important to you,

how much you can afford to give,

and whether the money will be well spent. On this episode of Life Kit I talked to

Kevin Scali, the chief relationship officer, Charity Navigator. That's a platform that evaluates

more than 200,000 nonprofit organizations based on their effectiveness.

And we'll talk about how to make a difference with your money.

Before we get back to the show, we know you value the helpful tips we bring you every week,

and your financial support is what makes our work possible.

Because the thing is, even though our journalism is freely available, it's not free to produce.

So here's a big shout out to our Life Kit Plus supporters and anyone listening who currently

donates to public media. Thank you. You're making a real difference. If you're

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