Most of the time, I rely on larger organizations, that I trust, to handle donations.

Non-profits like Untied Way aggregate donations in local areas (as well as inter/nationally) and distribute funds to other organizations.

They're kinda like the production company for my contributions in the sense that they'll know more about local organizations and what they're in need of so I don't have to rely on my limited knowledge and resources to find effective ways of making donations.

Banks charge too much for facilitating transactions so if I want to donate to a specific organization then I'll plan ahead and do a single transaction for the year and I'll try to find a process that doesn't involve electronic transfers other than a wire transfer since I eat the cost of the transfer that way.