If you are against door-to-door solicitation, put a "No Solicitors" sign on your door.

Don't open the door to strangers ostensibly soliciting for charities. Ask who they are first, and then keep your door chained until you see a proper ID and have called the charity to verify the ID.

Find the exact name of the charity. Bogus charities often adopt names close to the legitimate ones. To further check legitimacy, ask for the group's address and phone number and the name of the president.

What is the position of the solicitor? Is he or she a volunteer, an employee, or a third-party fundraiser? If an employee, how is he or she paid? Tiers of fund-raising apparatus usually mean that less money goes to the charitable purpose of the organization. Some professional fundraisers keep a huge percentage of the money they raise.

Ask if the charity is registered with the state. If it is a religious group, ask if it has received the seal of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. The ECFA offers a free list of its members, along with financial information.

Repeat financial information about the charity-an annual report or Form 990. The IRS requires charities that accept tax-deductible donations to submit an annual Form 990 on their fiancés and how money is allocated. (Churches and other religious organizations, which get half of American charitable contributions, do not have to file IRS returns.) How much goes to administration, how much to fund raising, how much to philanthropic mission the charity espouses? The charity should spend no more than 30 percent of donations on fund raising and at least 60 percent of donations on programs. Read the fine print. Be suspicious of money spent on education. Some groups put information about a topic like drug abuse in the same envelope as a solicitation so that they can write off the cost of mailing to education rather than to fund raising.

Don't give money or checks to solicitors and don't let them force you into a pledge or into giving your credit card number over the phone. Instead, ask for literature and an address. Refuse to let the telephone solicitor send someone over to your home to pick up a check. Mail a check, if (after thoughtful consideration) you decide you want to give.

Don't allow intimidation or guilt to rule your decision on whether or not to give. And don't give to an organization you've never heard of.