Personally I would try to make a direct donation to those who need it while I know that is difficult it beats losing 90 cents on the dollar for "administration work" of the charity.
There are so many that are needy, and research such as for cancer, heart disease et al is important, but I think if I had that to give, it would be to Wounded Warriors. I have all the respect in the world for those that write the blank check for the ultimate price to keep us safe, free, and fight the good fight on behave of those that can't.
I don't however know what their administrative expense vs what gets to those that are in need is.
I think we'd do a similar idea, but probably a direct and dedicated donation. DH had a classmate who came back a couple months ago without any legs. It'd been real complicated with the damage done to his lower torso.
Easy, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Why? Because in the past I was involved with the late, great Mike Traynor's Ride For Kids (RFK) program and knew that every dime raised went directly to research to find a cure for this relentless killer of children. I even continued the RFK rides when I was stationed over in Europe.
Prior to finding RFKs, and after I had just returned to active duty as a newly-commissioned lieutenant, I was the project officer for the United Way's Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) program. What I say and learned during the experience put me off the majority of big charities. It is amazing at how much is used to line the pockets of those running the charities, and the excessive overhead. I also learned that once a pre-established "cap" for a charity listed under the CFC was reached, donations could be re-routed to other charities without the knowledge or consent of of the donors. Lastly, a lady I worked with had donated money to a local Alzheimer charity because they had helped her mother; but the United Way dropped them from their list and refused to give her the money back. I ended up fighting that battle for her, and got her a refund which she then gave directly to the charity.
Needless to say, the above experiences have kept me from donating through any of these programs. I was lucky to find the RFK program and now it is the only charity I would consider giving money to! If I had $10K to give, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to do so!