What is the best way to check out charity bona fides online?

This year, for the first time ever, I received a catalog from Heifer International, which I had never even heard of until now. It seems intriguing—a nonreligious charity that aims to help people in the third world achieve self-sufficiency and their own bootstrap business, generally involving the provision of domesticated livestock, with a requirement that the recipient also receives training in care and handling, and also makes a return to the program after achieving some success. (So it’s not a “pure” giveaway—which I expect probably makes it more successful, if what I read is right.) Check it out here.

My question is, despite the endorsement of Hollywood stars in the catalog itself, which seems to give the thing some legitimacy, and the nice printing and photos and glowing testimonials inside… how can a potential donor check out the legitimacy and effectiveness of this outfit, and what is their ratio of collected monies to charitable disbursements? (The site has an extensive array of FAQs and documents, but I prefer to look at something competent, comprehensive and comprehensible that they haven’t linked to or published themselves.) I would like to contribute to something like this, but I want to know that the money is going where it’s needed, and not for… administrators with big budgets, Hollywood stars, photographers, printers… and fiction writers.