StealSmart

#1 Emergency response
Relief charities certainly rose to the occasion when natural disasters struck in recent months and years, but an honest appraisal reveals much of the traffic and donations were driven by media coverage rather than appeals from the charities themselves. But that’s not the case for organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States, which had to stretch to connect its mission to Hurricane Katrina in the public’s mind — and raised $18 million to rescue abandoned pets along the Gulf Coast.