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Before the winter holidays, some charities still go to the street corner, ring a bell and let passersby offer a drop in the bucket that eventually helps thousands of people in need.

Traditional fundraising efforts are now amplified by email, text and online requests to give. From the tiniest of causes to giant charitable undertakings, it can be difficult to decide where the money should go.

The Federal Trade Commission says consumers should be wary of charities that reach out unsolicited and then apply pressure.

"Same tactics that are used to steal your money in lots of different ways, they're used in charity scams," said FTC official Len Gordon. "So if they tell you you have to get to them today, if they ask you to contribute before you have an opportunity to review any information about the charity, if they're calling you persistently, if they're emailing you persistently, those are all clues that this might be a scam."

Fortunately, it has never been easier to find a truly worthy cause. Sites like GuideStar and Charity Navigator keep track of how thousands of charities spend millions of dollars.

They can also tell you the organizations' IRS status. Remember, "tax-exempt" and "tax-deductible" are different. For a donation to be tax-deductible, the organization must have a 501c3 number.

Some scam artists actually have runners who come by and pick up cash donations.

"If you pay by credit card or check, you have some chance of making sure that the money went to where it was supposed to go, and that it actually went to a real charity. If you give cash, it's gone. There's no way to trace that," said Gordon. "So it's a bad idea to give charitable donations in cash."

Yet with all the talk of online donations, don't forget that very satisfying feeling that comes from a bell ringing and a few coins hitting the bottom of a bucket.

For links to more information and charity watchdog groups, visit FTC.gov