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Reputable charities and others will be asking for donations in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. Charities are regulated by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which is advising people to check out their gift giving web site before handing over money to someone with whom you are not familiar. Aaron Keller says its time for givers to beware.

“We encourage them to research the charitable organizations prior to giving. Often, unfortunately, in the wake of disasters such as this, fraudulent  charities will pop up and take advantage of good hearted Floridians. So we are encouraging everyone to go to fresh from Florida dot com to research charities. You can look at whether they are properly registered, whether they have complaints on file, and you can actually look a their financial information as well” says Keller, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The web site lists how much a charity spends on it’s mission, and it’s operations,a nd fund raising costs.