I have a personal philosophy of not doing business with any organization or person unless I understand how they will make money. I take this exercise particularly seriously when at first glance it seems I'll be coming out way ahead.
This works remarkably well for filtering out hucksters, scammers, and shady businesses.
Replace "make money" with "achieve what may credibly be thought to be their goals". A charitable organization may have the goal of reducing poverty or disease somewhere rather than making money; fair enough. (Of course in some cases you might elect not to believe that that really is their goal.) But I don't think anyone ever thought that Swoopo was a philanthropic endeavour.
This works remarkably well for filtering out hucksters, scammers, and shady businesses.