Time is running out!

Your gifts to charity are an expression of your generosity and commitment to solving the problems that threaten our society. Even if your intentions are 100% altruistic, Uncle Sam rewards your charitable endeavors by making these gifts tax-deductible. But remember you must make your donation by the end of today to claim the tax deduction on your 2010 taxes. Find a charity to support now.





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Reach For The Stars

Still not sure where to give your philanthropic dollars this holiday season? There are plenty of 3-star and 4-star charities on our site. In fact, we've got around 3,500 charities that earn such high marks. You'll find them in each of our categories and causes. And many of them have also been reviewed against our new accountability and transparency methodology. So, go on, find a great charity and give generously now.









As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Our Top 10 Most Popular Blogs

1. 7.0 Earthquake Hits Haiti
2. Are Text Donations Safe?
3. Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation
4. The Obama Budget and Charitable Tax Deductions
5. Non-Profit CEO Pay and Government Funding
6. Help the Victims of the Deadly Cyclone in Myanmar
7. Crisis Giving: Cyclone, Earthquake, Tornados and Fires
8. Beware of Scam Charities Popping Up
9. Help Victims of the Pakistani Flood
10. Tips, Tips And More Tips For Funding Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Thanks for Your Support!

All of us here at Charity Navigator want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have so generously supported our work this past year. It is deeply appreciated and inspires us as we move forward with the important work of developing and implementing our expanded and enhanced rating system. This year, over 14,000 of you joined the Charity Navigator donor family for the first time--we are so grateful! Your help is vital to continue the expansion of our rating system and achieve financial sustainability. For those of you who would like to support our efforts but have not as yet done so, we would love to have you join us. Thanks again and we wish you a very happy New Year!




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Year-End Report From Charity Navigator's President & CEO

In our holiday giving tips this year, we encouraged donors to seek out charities that provide information about their results. In our commitment to 'walking the walk,' Ken Berger has used his final report for 2010 to discusses our progress towards our 4 main goals which are to:

1. Expand and Improve our Products
2. Broaden Donor Utilization
3. Increase and Diversify our Funding
4. Become a 4-Star Charity

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Charity Navigator's President & CEO On TV

Ken Berger discusses how charities are doing in the recession on Fox Business News.



Here are the charitable giving trends that Ken discussed on the show:

• Individual charitable giving remains strong and is anticipated to be at the same level as last year (that is roughly $230 billion!). This is the bright spot in an otherwise difficult environment for charities. Americans remain recession resistant in their charitable giving!
• Corporate and foundation giving declined last year and is anticipated to remain lower than in prior years due to lower revenues and investment income as well as a very conservative view on cash flow given uncertainty.
• Government funding of nonprofits is shrinking as state governments are forced to cut back. This is especially challenging for safety net charities that rely heavily on government contracts and grants. When the stimulus money runs out, this situation could get even worse.
• Challenges continue for museum and arts organizations as people are focusing more on immediate needs of their local communities.
• Religious organizations are also beginning to see some signs of cutbacks in giving but overall continue to get the largest share of individual donations.
• International organizations in Haiti are hoping to see an influx of support to address that countries long term challenges, but do not expect to see anything like the initial outpouring of support. However, they are hopeful that people who gave this past January will give once again during the holiday season.
• Charities that offer donors a specific opportunity to help people like DonorsChoose (funding a specific need in a classroom in a school) or Kiva (providing a micro-loan to help a poor person start a business) continue to grow in popularity.
• Charities that consistently measure the impact of their work – such as Nurse-Family Partnership – continue to grow in popularity as donors look for evidence of results and not just anecdotes (stories) and good marketing.

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Favorites

Do you have a favorite charity? Is there one that you support year after year? Which one is it and why?












As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Tick Tock

If you haven't yet made your year-end donations, we urge you not to procrastinate. You have just a few days to make a gift to a qualified charitable organization in order to reduce your 2010 tax bill. To help you make an informed decision before the January 1st deadline, check out our Holiday Giving Tips and our 5,500 charity ratings.








As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Mid-December Update

In lieu of a Jan. 1 update we have done a 12/22 update. We’ve posted new ratings for 306 charities including:

• Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
• Center for National Policy
• Hale House
• Safe Kids Worldwide
• The Wild Foundation

And we’ve added 16 more charities to our site including:

• Kiva
• Coalition to Support America's Heroes
• The Presidential Prayer Team
• ShelterBox USA
• The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation

And we now reviewed the accountability & transparency practices for more than 2000 charities.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Craigslist's Craig Blogs About Charity Navigator

Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, blogs about Charity Navigator. Check it out here.











As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Our Tips On TV

As you might know, charitable giving increases significantly during the last 6 weeks of the year. Some charities get as much as 1/4 or more of their annual donations at this time of year. And we know that 22% of annual online donations processed by Network for Good occur on the last two days of the year. So this is a perfect time for Ken Berger, Charity Navigator’s president & CEO, to appear on TV offering giving tips. In fact, you can catch him on Wednesday, December 22, live, on Fox Business News (11:30).



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Giving Factoids

Did you know?

• You must keep a bank record or written communication from a charity including the charity's name, along with the date and amount of your contribution, in order to deduct a cash contribution.
• Donations to the nation's 400 biggest charities dropped 11% in 2009. This decline was nearly four times as great as the next biggest annual decrease of 2.8% in 2001, when charities also struggled to raise money from recession-battered donors. Sadly, these large charities say that they don't expect to fair much better in 2010.
• According to the Census Bureau, 43.6 million people lived in poverty in 2009 which was up from 39.8 million in 2008.
• Charity Navigator users gave 360% more through our site in January 2010, when the earthquake hit Haiti, than January 2009.
• A recent survey of charitable organizations in 10 countries around the world revealed that demand for services is rising faster than donations.
• One in eight people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people annually that all forms of violence (including war).

Visit our site for more holiday inspired factoids. Then share them with your family over the holidays to impress them with your philanthropic knowledge!



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Charitable Gift Card Orders Made Today Will Arrive By Christmas

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Finally, Finish Your Holiday Shopping Today!

What? You haven't finished your holiday shopping yet and you are determined to give something meaningful. Well, then a Good Card sounds like the answer for you.

You get a tax-deduction and the recipient (relative, friend, client or coworker) has the opportunity to support his/her favorite charity. Together you make a difference and feel good this holiday season.















As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Network for Good's New Online Giving Study

Last week, our partner, Network for Good, released a study about online giving. The research took a look at $381 million in online giving through Network for Good, including $3.6 million gifts to 66,470 different nonprofits from 2003-2009.

Here are some of the major points from this new, important research:

• Online giving spikes during the month of December and large-scale disasters. During disasters, donors are more likely to consider new giving options, while in December, they’re more likely to give based on relationships with the charities.


• A third of all online giving occurs in December, and 22% of annual giving happens in the last two days of the year.


• Online giving (by dollars) on December 31 is concentrated between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in each time zone.


• Online giving happens largely between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, with a noticeable drop in giving during the noon (lunch) hour.

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

NJ Nonprofit Professionals - Don't Miss This Event

Sobel & Co.’s Nonprofit and Social Services Group Breakfast Symposium, “Repositioning Your Nonprofit: Getting Ready for What’s to Come,” is just one month away!

On January 12 from 8:00 am -11:30 am at the Woodbridge Hilton (Iselin, NJ) guest speaker, Alex Plinio (from Rutgers University) will speak on “The Critical Role of Ethics for Nonprofit Leaders.” During the symposium, onprofit professionals will learn new approaches to Leadership, Fundraising and Services.

To RSVP, contact Sally Glick at 973-994-9494 or sally.glick@sobel-cpa.com.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Help Your Friends Identify And Support Great Charities

We are now in the throws of the busiest time of year for donations. Between Christmas and New Years, some charities receive 20%, 30% and even upwards of 50% of their annual contributions. If you have website or blog, then you can help your readers make smart choices by including our little charity search widget. It will allow your fans to quickly search for and identify charities that match their philanthropic interests.

Simply copy and paste the code from our site into yours to post this:



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Legal Wars

Yesterday's Huffington Post contained an article by Laura Bassett which took a closer look at Susan G. Komen's legal endeavors to protect its 200 registered trademarks. Here's what I said in the article:
"I think it's important that charities protect their brand, but on the other hand, I don't think the donors' intent in giving their money was to fund a turf war. It's very important that Komen treads carefully and is very transparent about how they're spending money on these legal battles."
What do you think? Have you donated to Komen or another breast cancer charity? Are you disappointed to hear that Komen has used some of its resources to fund these legal battles? Or do you think charities should aggressively protect their brands?




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Did You Donate To Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts?

If so, we want to know more about your experience. For example, are you confident that the charities that responded spent the money they raised wisely? What influenced your selection of a particular charity? Would you support that charity again?
Take our short survey now.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Our CEO Speaks At Canada's House of Commons Today

Ken Berger, Charity Navigator’s president & CEO, will provide testimony this afternoon to Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. He was selected to be a witness regarding Bill C-470, which seeks to require Canadian charities to disclose their CEO’s pay (a requirement in the U.S.) and puts a cap on how high those salaries can go (there is no cap in the U.S.). Other witnesses include:

• SickKids Foundation (the group that caused the controversy that lead to this Bill being introduced)
• Imagine Canada (a Canadian charity umbrella group that is against both the cap and salary disclosure)
• Canadian Bar Association
• Association of Fundraising Professionals
• Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations
• Montreal Symphony Orchestra

You can learn more about Mr. Berger’s position here and you can watch his testimony online here.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Monday Morning Movie

Here's a little video to start off your week. Charity Navigator's tips start at 5 minutes and 25 seconds into the film.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Friday's Film

Ken Berger, Charity Navigator's president & CEO, was on Fox Business News last night talking to Gerri Willis about holiday giving tips. He also shared our list of 'Naughty and Nice' charities.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Holiday Gift That Supports Charities

Looking for a holiday gift that everyone will love and that has a charitable component? The Good Card is it.





















As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Inspiring Kids To Give Back

More than other time of year, this is the season for giving back and for inspiring our children to follow our lead. My kids kicked off the season by shopping for doll clothes and then dressing a doll to give away to a little girl without one (they also imparted a lot of hugs and love onto the doll before giving her up). Working off a list of needed items, we hit the supermarket (typically not a place my kids enjoy going) and donated our selections to a group collecting for Thanksgiving meals. And when they got to see a presentation by a highly-rated charity, my kids decided they’d like to contribute to the cause at a level equivalent to their age in dollars. My husband and I then offered a matching grant to make their donation a bit more substantial.

These are just a few examples of small ways in which our family will integrate philanthropy into the holiday season. But there are many, many, many other ways in which we teach kids about giving. What will you do to inspire the children around you to become future donors?




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

December Update

This month we've posted new ratings for 341 charities including:

• Teach for America
• Civil War Preservation Trust
• USO
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Dayton Ballet

And we've added 2 new charities to our site:

• Alzheimer's Foundation of America

• Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Charity Navigator's Past, Present and Future

As told by Stephanie Strom in The New York Times.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

An Alternative To Black Friday

Did you know that retailers took in $10.66 billion in sales, in one day, black Friday, 2009? In comparison, arts charities took in $12.3 billion in contributions, in all of 2009.

Before you go out to the stores, why not rethink some of those gifts on your list? I’m sure some (if not all) of your family and friends would be thrilled to receive a Good Card – which enables them to donate to their favorite charity. And since you can buy Good Cards online, you don’t have to get up in the middle of the night and stand in a long, cold line waiting to do your shopping.





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Data Analysis Prompts Changes To How We Rate Charities

At Charity Navigator, our Analysts constantly monitor the financial data we collect on the charities we rate. We do this to ensure that our benchmarks – described on the Ratings Tables page of our site - for scoring the performance of the charities are fair and objective. It is through this ongoing research that we have learned that certain types of charities began to feel the impact of the recession more dramatically than others in 2009. This has led us to adjust the benchmarks by which we assign scores for nine causes of charities. As a result, 97 charities now have improved ratings. Please visit our site to learn more.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Today's Video- Donate Wisely with Charity Navigator

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Nonprofit Innovators Talk About Impact

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend NextGen:Charity, a conference designed to help nonprofit professionals learn from other successful leaders and innovators (Charity Navigator’s own president & CEO, Ken Berger, presented). During the event, there was a lot of talk about the importance of measuring impact. And there was and equal amount of honest revelation that most charities aren’t yet tracking their impact.
Here are some of the speakers’ comments that stood out for me:

• When Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water, was getting started, he said his friends were vocal about what was keeping them from giving more to charity. They flat out didn’t trust charities and they wanted some assurances that their contributions were really making a difference. So, Scott put some relatively inexpensive technology – a GPS devise and Google Maps - to use to show how the very first dollars he raised built wells. This helped him quickly build trust in his brand. He suggested that fundraisers will have more success if they sell an opportunity to support a charity rather than guilting others into donating. And he advocated sharing failures (as was the case when one of his wells failed to produce water).


• Scott Case, co-founder of Priceline.com, CEO & vice-chairman of Malaria No More, and chairman of the Board of Network for Good, had one of the best tips --- plan to go out of business after you’ve accomplished your mission. Here are his 5 reasons why every charity should operate under that premise:


1. Everyone wants you to go out of business as that means you’ve accomplished your goal.


2. It helps you prioritize the outcome ahead of the organization.


3. It frees up your creatively.


4. It frees up resources.


5. And, finally, he says it is a good reason to have a party.

Scott also stressed the importance of having measurable goals (how else will you know if and how to change your course of action), that are achievable and that have a time constraint.

• Ami Dar, the founder and executive director of the very popular Idealist.org, used his time to talk about why it is that we haven’t yet solved the world’s greatest problems. He’s done a fair amount of research on why people do or don’t get involved. First, he asked people “what do you want to do?” And he found that few people had ever been asked that before. Then he asked “what can help you do it?” Among other things, he learned that people are more likely to get involved if they had a ‘buddy’ to participate with and also if they could see the impact of their efforts.


• The executive director of the Robin Hood Foundation, David Saltzman, believes that measurement in the nonprofit sector is way behind measurement in the for profit world.


• Katie Hood, CEO of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research said her charity is committed to measuring its impact, but needs to be more disciplined in those efforts. She also stress that it is important to be as honest in communicating areas of impact as areas of failure.

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Nonprofit Experts Offer Tips For Assessing A Charity's Results

One of our giving tips this holiday season is to check out a charity's results before you make your donation. But that's no easy task! So we asked our Advisory Panel to share their tips on how you can find out more about your favorite charity's outcomes.
Here's a sampling of what they said:

• Sean Stannard-Stockton suggests donors ask charities a variety of questions including "How has the nonprofit adjusted its activities in response to new information?"
• Leigh Tucker says "...don’t be afraid to contact the organization directly and talk with them about their mission and how your donations are put to work. Most nonprofits welcome the opportunity to talk with their donors about how funds are utilized."
• Laura Callanan suggests that donors check to see where the big foundations are investing their money.

You can read the rest of their tips on our site.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Know What Your Charity Does Before You Invest

There are more than a 1,000 breast cancer charities in America today. And, no, they do not all fund research or provide assistance to those afflicted with the disease. Some exist to promote awareness and some, as this story from MSNBC highlights, aren't yet sure what it is they want to accomplish. As Ken Berger points out in the story, it is O.K. and even appropriate, for new charities to take their time to develop their programs and services. But as a donor, you should take the time to check that out on the front end, before you make your donation. That way, if you really wanted to fund research and not a start up group, you would direct your money elsewhere.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Friday's Film

This Friday we offer you our Holiday Giving Tips in video format to help you get the biggest bang for your charitable buck this season.





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Today is Veterans Day

Veterans Day, November 11th, is an annual celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism and sacrifice. And there sure are lots of ways in which you can commemorate this holiday. For example, you can attend the national ceremony or even a local one in your community. You can send a note of thanks someone currently serving in the military or to someone who previously served. You can make a donation to a military related charity, such as the 4-star Fisher House Foundation or the 4-star Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation. You can tie a yellow ribbon around a tree. And yet another way to celebrate is to visit one of our country’s 100+ amazing national parks because on Veterans Day you are permitted to enter for free (of course, if you can afford it, they’d appreciate a donation).





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Which Charity Should We Rate?

Help Us Decide Which Charity We Should Rate Next!         

Online Surveys & Market Research














As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Charting Our Course

In case you missed it, we wanted to take the opportunity in this space to update you on our progress toward the creation of CN 2.0, the revolutionary next generation of Charity Navigator. Our new rating system, scheduled to debut at the end of 2012, will provide donors a 3-dimensional view of each of the charities we rate. We hope you'll consider joining the legions of Charity Navigator friends and fans who have provided vital financial support for this endeavor. If you'd like to help, you can do so here. Thank You!




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Tis’ The Season For Charitable Appeals

As you open your mailbox or email inbox over the next several weeks, you will surely come across a charitable appeal as this is the traditional charitable giving season. If you are one of the millions of American’s that will make a charitable donation between Thanksgiving and New Years, then we encourage you to check out our 2010 Holiday Giving Guide. It includes:

• Giving tips
• A roundtable discussion with our Advisory Panel
• An opportunity to vote for a charity to be rated
• A list of the highest and lowest rated charities Giving facts

Finally, if you do plan to give, we hope you'll take our short online survey so we can learn how your plans compare to how you gave last year at this time.

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

November Update

This month we’ve posted new ratings for 575 charities including:

• Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation
• Dress for Success
• KickStart International
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• New Jersey Performing Arts Center
• Citymeals-on-Wheels
• First Book
• ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer
• Iditarod Trail Committee
• United Spinal Association

And we’ve added 14 more charities to our site including:

• The Cara Program
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Ana
• Cheetah Conservation Fund
• California Police Youth Charities

And we now reviewed the accountability & transparency practices for more than 1400 charities.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Supporting Charities That Provide Holiday Meals

With Thanksgiving approaching, many of us open our mailboxes to find a letter from a local charity asking that we cover the cost of their providing a hot meal to those in need. And if you read this blog, then you know this is an especially challenging time for these types of charities. So, to help you ensure that people in your community can have a special, hot meal this holiday season, we've posted a set of tips. Check it out now and then go write that check.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Top Paying Nonprofit Jobs

Thinking of working in the nonproft sector? Here's some information that may help you select a type of nonprofit position. According to The NonProfit Times 2010 Annual Salary and Benefits report the 10 highest average paying jobs in the sector are:

1. Chief Scientific Officer $211,550
2. General Counsel $179,174
3. Chief Medical Officer $152,078
4. Physician $144,639
5. Chancellor/President $134,207
6. Psychiatrist $132,227
7. Regional Vice President $129,376


8. Chief Advocacy Officer $120,499
9. Chief Information Officer $116,299
10. Chief Executive Officer $115, 065

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Hear Ken Speak at NextGen:Charity

On November 18 and 19, the movers and shakers of the philanthropy sector will be gathering in NYC at NextGen:Charity to discuss nonprofit innovation. Don't get left out in the dark!

Learn from speakers like our very own Ken Berger:



To thank you for following Charity Navigator's blog, we've partnered with NextGen to give you 20% off the conference ticket price. Register now.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

NJ Nonprofits Save This Date

Sobel & Co.’s Nonprofit and Social Services Group will present its Annual Breakfast Symposium on January 12, 2011 from 8:00 am -11:30 am at the Woodbridge Hilton (Iselin, NJ). This year's theme is “Repositioning Your Nonprofit: Getting Ready for What’s to Come.” And guest speaker, Alex Plinio (from Rutgers University) will speak on “The Critical Role of Ethics for Nonprofit Leaders.”

To RSVP, contact Sally Glick at 973-994-9494 or sally.glick@sobel-cpa.com.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

We Won!

Thank you to everyone that voted for Charity Navigator's tagline, Your Guide To Intelligent Giving. Today, it was revealed that we won the 2010 Nonprofit Tagline Awards in our category.

Here's the analysis on why our tagline is a winner:
This tagline is unique and clear to its mission, and conveys an air of wisdom and refinement.

You immediately sense via the word “Guide” that the Charity Navigator service is an asset to you. The phrase “Intelligent Giving” feeds egos (who doesn’t want to be intelligent?) while it underscores the difficulty in wading through information to make an informed and wise giving choice.
Check out the video announcement.


As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

What's In A Name?

Recently, one of our donors pointed out that two of our Top 10 lists had charities listed with similar names. One charity, Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust, appears on the list of 10 Highly Rated Charities Relying on Private Contributions. The other, Disabled Veterans Associations, has the unfortunate distinction of landing on the list of 10 Charities Overpaying their For-Profit Fundraisers. She was worried that potential donors would confuse the two and ultimately think less of the 4-star Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust because of the 0-star Disabled Veterans Association’s similar sounding name.

She should be worried and so should you! With 1 million charities in existence, there are, of course, going to be many that have similar names. This is why we ask those who submit charities for us to review to provide the charity’s unique EIN#. With so many similar names, if we were to just go by the charity’s name, then we couldn’t be certain that we’re taking a look at the charity the donor requested.
Even more troubling is that some people, with less than noble intentions, purposely establish new charities with similar names to well-known charities. Sadly, this is often a successful strategy for attracting donations. And that is why we warn donors to be careful of charities with sound-alike names.


As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Throwdown: Don't Start A Charity

If you follow our president & CEO's blog, then you know he and Dan Pallotta have been engaged in an ongoing debate about charity CEO pay (see here and here). Well Monday night at 8pm eastern they're going to take the debate from the blogosphere to the airwaves when they discuss the pros and cons of starting a new charity on The Stupid Cancer Show. Don't miss the fireworks!





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Don't Miss This Upcoming Nonprofit Conference

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Less Government Funding Flows To Groups Like Food Banks and Homeless Shelters

We've been warning for some time now (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here) that human services charities (food banks, youth programs, homeless services) can be especially hard hit in a down economy. Why? The demand for their services goes way up, but the pace of income doesn't match that demand.
That makes a new study by the Urban Institute, showing that government support for such groups is down, especially troubling. Their findings reveal that:

• 56% of human service charities received less funding from State Governments
• 49% received less from Local Governments
• 31% received less from Federal Agencies.

That drop in government support, combined with decreases in other sources of revenues, like donations, has forced 82% of human service charities to scale back. Specifically,

• 21% cut programs and services
• 17% are helping less people
• 50% have cut salaries or refrained from issuing pay increases
• 39% have dipped into their rainy-day funds
• 23% have reduced their employees benefits
• 22% have had to borrow money.

Worst of all, the study’s authors predict that things will only get worse for human service charities. They believe demand for their programs and services will continue to increase and that revenues will continue to decline. So, as you start to make your holiday giving plans, please consider supporting a group like your local food bank or homeless shelter this year. For example, you could fund a holiday meal or volunteer at a local youth program.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Thanks for the Service!

We frequently hear from donors about how highly they value Charity Navigator and the service we provide. When those donors become our donors, too--that means a lot to us!

An overstuffed, pricey appeal (including a nickel in addition to a lifetime supply of address labels) sent one donor right to our web site to check out Paralyzed Veterans of America. Noting the charity's bloated fundraising expenses prompted this donor to leave this comment and decide instead to make a contribution to our efforts to assist charitable givers in making more informed giving decisions. We say a resounding "Thank You" to this donor and all of you who have joined the Charity Navigator donor family.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

A Fundraising Cost Charities Can't Control

Charities that solicit contributions from the public are required to register in every state that has such laws mandating registration (not all do). Not only are the initial and renewal registration processes oftentimes cumbersome and intrusive--in some states the fees have become absolutely outrageous!

And we know this firsthand. Charity Navigator is registered in 34 states and, thus far this year, we have paid close to $3,300 in registration fees. Before the year is out, we will have forked over close to $4,500 in fees and spent countless man hours of valuable time filling out redundant renewal registrations. We know the states have good intentions and want to protect their citizens from unscrupulous operators but there has to be a better, more efficient way!

We feel the time has come to fully "nationalize" this process by having charities complete a single registration form that is good for all states. A Uniform Registration Statement does exist, but not all states accept it and even those that do still have their own individual financial reporting requirements in addition to the URS. If a truly integrated national system was adopted, individual states could still collect their fees, but they could be significantly reduced as they would no longer need dedicated office staff to administer these unwieldy programs. That's more money in charities' coffers to spend on services that help people and communities--dollars would go where they are needed and not into state treasuries! We'd love to know what you think--please leave a comment.


As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Friday's Film

Today's video comes from KOMO News and it encourages donors to be thoughtful about their breast cancer related purchases. Visit our site for our own video on this topic and to see ratings for breast cancer charities.





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Do You Know A Top Performing Human Service Professional?

If so, the Superstar Foundation wants to know.

The Superstar Foundation is the first nonprofit organization to specifically seek out, recognize and reward the highest-performing human service professionals in America. Up to 4 winners will receive grants of $5,000 which they can use however they deem appropriate.

Visit their site to learn more and to nominate someone.






As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

What Does Charity Navigator, Pepsi And Yale Have In Common?

A conference on philanthropy this December, that's what.

That’s right; our very own Ken Berger will be a speaker at 6th annual Yale School of Management Philanthropy Conference. The theme of this year’s event, which will take place on December 3 in New Haven, CT, is “Fostering Innovative Ideas for Social Change.” Ken will be on a panel with Claire Lyons, Global Grant Portfolio Manager at the PepsiCo Foundation, Michael Smith, Vice President, Social Innovation at the Case Foundation, and Jose Zamora, Journalism Associate at the Knight Foundation. Their session will focus on Philanthropy 2.0- the role of digital media, networks and technology to promote social change.

You can find out more about this conference and register here.




As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Before Time Runs Out - Please Vote For Charity Navigator's Tagline

Time is running out to vote for Charity Navigator for the 2010 Nonprofit Tagline Awards.

Voting ends Wednesday, October 6. So please, take a moment, and vote for our tagline - Your Guide To Intelligent Giving – today! You’ll find our listing at the very bottom of the survey, under “16. Organizations- Other Taglines.”

Vote Now!

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

October Update

On our site today, you will find 408 updated charity ratings and 22 newly added charity ratings. Visit the site to see how charities like Adopt-A-Classroom, The New York Public Library, Wikimedia Foundation, Autism Speaks , United Breast Cancer Foundation , and A Better Chance rate. You can also read our president & CEO's latest report here. Finally, if you plan to make a charitable donation in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, then be sure to check out our Hot Topic on this issue.


Photo from Shutterstock.com

As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Don’t Miss This Learning Opportunity

If you are a nonprofit professional and live in the tri-state area, then you will not want to miss the Rutgers Institute for Ethical Leadership’s Nonprofit Executive & Emerging Leader Certificate Program. The event will be held November 2-4 from 8am -5pm at Rutgers Business School’s Newark Campus. The program features distinguished faculty and nationally recognized practitioners, including Charity Navigator’s own president & CEO, Ken Berger, who will lead in-depth presentations and discussions on Nonprofit Accountability & Transparency. Others will present on a wide range of topics including: Fundraising Leadership, A Personal Model for Life and Career Planning, Ethics and Accountability: Challengesfor Nonprofit and Foundation Leaders, Nonprofit Financial Management, Leading through Communication, The Strategic Board, Best Practices in ExecutiveCompensation and Relevance and Sustainability.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Do The Rich Give More?

Not as a percentage of their wealth, according to a recently published study by Paul Piff, a psychologist at U.C. Berkeley. He began his study by giving subjects credits, worth real money, and asking them if they’d like to keep the credits or share it with another person. Subjects who were at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale (both in terms of income and education) gave almost 50% more away than those at the higher end. He then asked the participants how much they believe people should give to charity as a percentage of their income. The average response for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale was 5.6% while on average the wealthier participants said 2.1%.

Dr. Piff’s results indicate that the poor are more generous than the wealthy. His theory is that the less well off you are the more you depend on others. He says that for the needy, compassion “…instead of money is going to be the resource they can turn to in times of hardship and need.”
Photo provided by Shutterstock.



As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>

Our Free Search Widget

These days there are widgets for so many different organizations --- including Charity Navigator! Our free, search widget allows you to tap into our 5,500 charity ratings right from your website or blog.



Visit our site to learn more.





As a 501 (c) (3) organization itself, Charity Navigator depends on public support to help donors make informed choices. Please consider investing in the future of Charity Navigator by making a donation today.  Donate now >>