A new survey says when you give to a charity during a telemarketing call, just one-third of your donation is actually making it to the charity. The rest? Goes to the telemarketer.

AG Nixon's Check a Charity Web site can help you determine how charities handle their finances. For any charity you find in our database, we'll tell you how much they spend on overhead v. the actually program service you're hoping to help. Rule of thumb: we recommend you give to those that spend at least 65% of their money on program services. A recent blog post summarized our advice on charitable giving.