Charity Navigator is a website specializing in the evaluation of various U.S. non-profit organizations based on their financial performance. According to them, the most popular charities in America are the American Red Cross, the Heinz Center and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Others among the top ten were Feed the Children, the American Cancer Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Animal Charities of America was ranked as the number one charity, with over 95% of their total revenue coming strictly from private contributions alone. In other words, they report no government funding, no membership fees and no revenue from earned income.
On the other hand, there are charities that may not have it so good. Non-profit organizations can be difficult to maintain, and because they handle money given to them from the public, can come under careful scrutiny.
The Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco is one such foundation. According to Charity Navigator this organization has run deficits for three fiscal years running, indicating patterns in overspending. The same applied to Carleton College, Carman Ministries and the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association. This website also categorizes the bad in terms of administration costs and CEO salaries.
When you decide to give something back to the community by means of making donations to a non-profit foundation, you should not give to the first charity that offers to take your money. You need to use both your heart and your mind to make the right choice.
Begin by brainstorming on the reasons why you have decided to give to a non-profit foundation. Jot down some organizations that come to mind as well as some general societal that interest or inspire you. You want to do some research to see what your opportunities are and you also want your donation to mean something to you as well.
Do not stick to your list of organizations, though. There may be some out there that you have never heard of that work for a cause you never knew existed and is just as important as the ones on your list.
Guidestar is also another useful website for choosing a non-profit foundation to give to. It provides a vast database that allows to access non-profit organizations that best fits your values, complete with a description and background of the charity itself.
If you can, find out what the people at the organization are like. You can tell the success of a non-profit foundation through the amount of involvement and dedication exhibited by its staff.
Most of all, you will want to know what the majority of the charity’s raised funds go towards. Does it actually support program activities and action, or does it mainly support fundraising and administration costs? Most large non-profits will have all of this information available to the public, while the smaller, slightly younger ones may not. If this is possible, you can also assess the allocation of funds by taking a look at what the foundation has successfully accomplished in recent years. Always know that a non-profit foundation can move mountains, but only very slowly and with help from its community.
By Kelley Caner