Giving Tuesday: 6 charities where your money makes a big difference

Today is Giving Tuesday — a day to think of those less fortunate, but also a reminder that charities want your money just as much as any for-profit brand, and many use the same polished tactics to get it.

The day itself is a sales pitch: created in 2012 as a feel-good counterweight to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but quickly dominated by big nonprofits with big marketing budgets. As philanthropy-sector insider Dave Moss writes, it was launched not by beneficiaries but by “representatives of corporate America, the public relations sphere, and/or enormous, already well-funded nonprofits.”

Just a reminder that sometimes it's the scrappiest, more 'unfashionable' charities where your money will go the farthest.

The Wounded Warrior Project has mastered the Giving Tuesday playbook with emotional storytelling. But a 2016 CBS News investigation revealed millions spent on lavish staff conferences and travel, with a Senate review later finding that the charity had inflated its program-spending numbers by counting fundraising and PR as “veteran programs.”

The ASPCA is another case where glossy branding masks inefficiency. Despite its huge Giving Tuesday paw print, watchdogs say only a small share of its massive fundraising reaches animals in need, despite what its infamously maudlin ads suggest. Very little is granted to local SPCAs — which many donors assume they’re supporting — while the national group spends tens of millions on advertising and pays its CEO close to a million dollars a year.

RELATED: 'Gimme' shelter: ASPCA, Humane Society live large on your donations, warns watchdog

Michael Stewart/WireImage/Getty Images

Which is not to say you shouldn't participate in Giving Tuesday. Just a reminder that sometimes it's the scrappiest, more “unfashionable” charities where your money will go the farthest.

Here are six organizations doing the slow, unglamorous work of helping real American families, veterans, and workers.

1. The Ruth Institute

Mission: Promote and defend the traditional family; educate the public on marriage, sexual integrity, and the fallout of the sexual revolution.

The Ruth Institute isn’t shy about its worldview — or its conviction that a healthy society starts at home. If you want your donation to go toward shaping the cultural weather upstream of politics, this is the place.

Donate: https://ruthinstitute.org/donate/

2. Gary Sinise Foundation

Mission: Support America’s wounded veterans, Gold Star families, and first responders.

More than 30 years after playing wounded Vietnam vet Lieutenant Dan in "Forrest Gump," Gary Sinise has quietly built one of the most trusted veterans’ charities in the country. Its work is extremely practical: specially adapted smart homes for wounded vets, emergency financial assistance, mental health support, community-building, and mobility programs. Few organizations deliver more hands-on, life-changing help.

Donate: https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/donate/

3. Farmer Veteran Coalition

Mission: Help veterans transition into careers in agriculture.

A perfect marriage of two underserved groups: rural America and former service members. FVC provides grants, training, equipment, and mentorship to vets who want to build careers in farming. It strengthens both individual livelihoods and America’s food supply.

Donate: https://farmvetco.org/donate/

4. Foundation for Rural Service

Mission: Strengthen the economic and social fabric of rural communities.

Millions of rural Americans get left out of every national conversation — and often out of basic services. FRS funds scholarships, rural broadband expansion, small-town revitalization, and educational programs.

Donate: https://www.frs.org/donate

5. Volunteers of America

Mission: Provide housing, addiction recovery, senior care, job training, and emergency services to vulnerable Americans.

One of the oldest faith-driven aid groups in America, VOA does the thankless work: shelters, recovery programs, support for disabled vets, senior care, and services for people re-entering society after incarceration. If you want your donation to translate quickly into beds, meals, care, and services, VOA is reliable.

Donate: https://www.voa.org/donate

6. mikeroweWORKS Foundation

Mission: Close the skills gap by supporting vocational training and America’s trades.

Mike Rowe has spent years reminding America that welders, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and carpenters don’t just keep civilization running — they are civilization. His foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship Program helps people pay for trade school, buy tools, and get certified. A great way to invest directly in rebuilding the country’s working-class backbone.

Donate: https://mikeroweworks.org/donate/