Defiantly a post that needs to be spoken about .. I'm not sure how it works in other countries around the world but in Australia we have a government charity register where charities have to apply to be on there.
You can do a search on there and check how long they have been around their turn over, their directors, if they have reported their financials to the tax/government in time and when, and heaps of other info..

I'm the National coordinator of a charity Magic Moments - Basket Brigade that delivers hampers of food and toys to families struggling financially at christmas, and while we rely souly on donations we understand that there is always people that are going to question where the money goes which is why we operate as transparent as possible ..

It also breaks my heart that there are dodgy people out there that do the wrong thing and put a bad rap on the whole industry.
But If more checks are put in place to identify who is a registered charity and who is that would be great .. maybe account holders could have a survey they have to submit where they have to have a .org email address, a website, registered charity number ect they submit to you and they get some kind of trophy on their account to say they have been verified as a registered charity ...
Just a thought ?? At the end of the day it is still up to the user to make the judgment call if they wish to make a donation to a charity but having extra checks in places makes it safer for everyone...

( for checking Australian charities)
http://www.acnc.gov.au/ACNC/FindCharity/Search_the_ACNC_Register/ACNC/OnlineProcessors/Online_register/Search_the_register.aspx?noleft=1

( For USA i'm guessing its this one - I just found it after a quick search)
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/search-for-charities

Nikki G