Online giving means that supporting charities has never been easier. But making sure we donate in the areas we care about takes extra effort and knowhow.

A number of free websites can help you to find the right charity and give in the most tax-efficient way. The database at Guide Star, www.guidestar.org.uk lists 167,000 charities in England and Wales. Many are small organisations and have no website and limited outreach.

Guide Star users can search for charities by keyword and browse results by category. A search for “Nepal”, for example, finds 273 charities. A short mission statement for each appears on the results screen. A click brings up more information, including contact details and a summary of accounts.

For more in-depth information, the Charity Commission’s website, www. charity-commission.gov.uk, lists all registered UK charities and has comprehensive data on each — including summary information returns (Sirs). These annual reports were introduced in 2005 to improve transparency and to assess how — and how effectively — funds are being raised and spent.

Sheila Birch, of the Charity Commission, says: “People want to know how effectively their money is being used. These reports give a good handle on how a charity is operating.”

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), www.cafonline.org.uk, can help you to give more efficiently to your chosen charity. If you are a taxpayer, the foundation reclaims Gift Aid on donations made through its website, adding up to 28 per cent to the value of your gift and saving the charity time and administrative expense.

Donors can get online advice on streamlining their giving — setting up give as you earn, for example. Or you can set up a CAF charity account. Account holders pay online by credit or debit card and can give online at the CAF website by standing order or in one-off donations. Olapeju Awe, 35, an IT consultant in Chatham, Kent, has a CAF charity account. She has a standing order to pay Unicef £10 a month. “The system’s easy to use, flexible and tax-efficient.”

Donors can create a free fundraising website at Justgiving.com. Your website features a photograph, a “personal message” outlining your project, information on your chosen charity and a link to a secure server where visitors can make or pledge a donation.

Sending a link of your website to all your contacts should save hours of door-to-door stress. Justgiving charges a 5 per cent transaction fee on gross donations — donations plus Gift Aid reclaim. A £10 donation by credit card will mean £11.93, rather than £12.82, to the charity.

For more on consumer affairs visit www.timesonline.co.uk/consumeraffairs