We use to be a big donor to cancer research until I discovered just how much money was going to administrators and how little was going to fund the research itself. I now prefer to donate things like clothes, non-perishable food items, blankets, etc. Money is just too easy and tempting for the wrong people to grab and pocket.

My husband and I agree - we donate now while we are alive. Our estate will be left to our family heirs - our children, their spouses and their children.