With the holiday season upon us many people are busy buying gifts and getting their homes ready to host family and friends. While this is certainly a great way to spend your time and money, it’s important not to forget to give back to charity organizations that help those in desperate need during this time as well.

In total, giving to charity organizations amounted to $358.38 billion in 2014 alone. Charitable donations are not only tax exempt, but they also make you feel good and better about yourself as a human in society. While donations for non profit organizations are a positive thing regardless, some charity foundations utilize their funds more efficiently, meaning more of what you’re donating goes towards the people that really need it as opposed to organizational overhead etc. Here are three of the best charities to donate to this holiday season.

1. Fisher House Foundation: There are many charity organizations that benefit the military, but this is one the best in terms of providing lodging to veterans and helping military families receiving treatment at military medical centers. CharityWatch, formerly known as the American Institute of Philanthropy, is a nonprofit that helps people determine the best charity organizations to donate to by looking into their financial records and services. They gave the Fisher House a rare A+ rating.
2. DonorsChoose: DonorsChoose is another A+ rated organization that allows people to donate directly to public school classroom projects, materials, and services. If the welfare of children and specifically their education is of utmost concern for you this is a great option.
3. National Alliance to End Homelessness: The NAEH is technically a group of public and private charity organizations working towards one stated goal. They also received an A+ from CharityWatch and are the perfect choice for those worried about people finding a home as the weather starts to turn cold.

If your current financial standing simply won’t allow monetary donations to be made clothing donations are a great alternative and something most people can come up with. GreenDrop is one such organization that will pick up clothing donations at locations across the county. Even though about 4.7 billion pounds of clothing are donated by Americans each year, Americans send 10.5 million tons to landfills every year.

This content was sponsored by GreenDrop, even though they aren’t affiliated with any of the aforementioned charity organizations, as a means to encourage and help people pick a quality charity to give to this holiday season.