Criteria
(the quick version)
Science!
We use the most reliable form of experiments known as randomized-controlled trials (RCTs). These allow you to get past wishful thinking and see whether an intervention is effective compared to if nothing had been done. We also require multiple studies because one study could just be a fluke or heavily biased. This leads to charities that are as close to proven as you can get. More on why science is so important for choosing charities.
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Cost-effectiveness
If you can find a charity that saves lives for half the price, it would seem like a good charity. The exciting thing about doing good is that some interventions can help a lot more people with the same amount of resources. For example, you can save far more lives by preventing malaria in the first place than by treating people who are already infected. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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Room for funding
Despite what most charities will tell you, they often don’t need any more money. In fact, any additional money will often go into savings and might not be spent for years. This is why it’s critical when choosing where to give to ask them - what will my gift fund, on the margin?
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Transparency
A charity could have all of the above features yet not tell you what they're actually doing with your money. If so, it's many advantages are all for nothing. Also, it’s hard to trust a charity that keeps this sort of information under wraps.This is why it's so critical that a charity be public about its finances, projects, and general activities.
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Criteria
(the long version)
We are the popular science of charity so we try to keep things short and to the point. However, if you want all the details, check out GiveWell. We largely base our recommendations off of their research as they are the most rigorous and skeptical charity evaluator. They are also a detail person's heaven as their website is filled with graphs, citations, and spreadsheets.