Check out that Charity before you Donate

Welcome to Charity Navigator

Charity time is upon us! There are many good reasons to donate to a worthwhile charity. It is not surprising that over 60% of charitable donations occur during the last quarter of the year. There are of course solid tax related reasons for this.

But buyers beware!

There are many charities not worthy of your heard earned dollar.

Charity Navigator maintains an up to date listing of all charities and grades them according to their objective criteria.

Charity Navigator is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization under the Internal Revenue Code and does not accept any contributions from any charities they evaluate.

Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator has become the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. In their quest to help donors, their professional analysts examined tens of thousands of non-profit financial documents. They use this knowledge to develop an unbiased, objective, numbers-based rating system to assess over 7,000 of America’s best-known and some lesser known, but worthy, charities.

Charity Navigator’s rating system examines two broad areas of a charity’s performance; their Financial Health and their Accountability & Transparency. The ratings show givers how efficiently they believe a charity will use their support today, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time and their level of commitment to good governance, best practices and openness with information.
Last year alone, their site had almost seven million visits by donors to help them better choose their charities

We include in this article the best of their picks. Their lists also offer a glimpse at the worst.

THE BEST
Charity Navigator believes that high-performing charities excel in three areas: (1) financial, (2) accountability & transparency and (3) results. These ten charities not only earn our highest 4-star rating for their Financial Health, but they also earn 4-stars in Accountability & Transparency. This tells us that these 10 charities adhere to good governance and other best practices that minimize the chance of unethical activities and that they execute their missions in a fiscally responsible way.

10 Top-Notch Charities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE WORST
Charity Navigator posts many top ten lists. One of our favorite worsts? 10 Charities Overpaying their For-Profit Fundraisers.

Read about this at:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten.detail&listid=28#.U_837I2wLIY

Do not donate this year without careful review of your charity at Charity Navigator.■