Monica Eng

CHICAGO -- In the swirl of the holiday season, consumers can find themselves flooded with pitch letters, phone calls, food drive appeals and donation boxes for what appear to be legitimate charities.

The decision to donate is often made quickly, for emotional reasons or simply because we are asked -- not because we know a lot about the organization's operations and track record.

Few bell ringers, for instance, are ready to tell you how their charity characterizes the value of in-kind donations on its financial filings, how much its CEO makes each year in relation to heads of similar organizations or how effective the charity is at improving the lives of those it serves.

A growing number of resources are designed to help consumers find the answers to such questions. Still, knowing which service to use can be as hard as choosing a charity itself.

CHICAGO -- Sarah Wu does not look like a troublemaker. The slight, blond mom comes off, by her own admission, as "a super nice person ... without a bad word to say."

That may be why the speech pathologist was able to crank out an incisive daily blog scrutinizing school meals for an entire year without anyone suspecting her. Writing as "Mrs. Q," she bought lunch each school day of 2010, photographed it, ate it and wrote about it that night under the title Fed Up With Lunch.