When one first joins a new team, there is a learning curve
that one goes through. My name is Steven Caron and I am the Communications and
Development Associate at Charity Navigator (CN), a title I have now held for only
2 weeks. I am on that learning curve and will share some of my observations
thus far. I arrived at Charity Navigator through
Atlas Corps, a fellowship program
that brings fellows from around the world to serve in American nonprofit
organizations. I am from
Montreal, Quebec
and have been in the non-profit for a few years now. The fellowship is a 1 to
1.5 year program.
At the start of my service at
Charity Navigator, the most
important task has been to understand how the organization operates, thinks and
breathes. These are the building blocks from which my future work, progress and
achievements will spring. It is for this reason that my first week has been
spent, primarily, meeting with members of the management team. Each of them
briefed and oriented me on their responsibilities within the organization, how
they conduct their business and how I can get involved.
This blog is a summary of what I have learned and understood
during this initial time period, particularly about why the organization was
created and what it is setting out to accomplish. Since I am new to this as
well, I figure my explanation should be a good overview of Charity Navigator
and an introduction for people who don’t know much about this forward thinking
and overachieving organization.
Firstly, one may want to know,
why Charity Navigator was started in the first place. The answer is
quite logical actually. As explained in their own words in
this video, around the year 2000, the
founders, Pat and Marion Dugan, were looking to donate a considerable amount of
money. However, they didn’t want to hand over their gift to an organization
that was either fraudulent or not effective with their funds. Through their
research they came to the realization that an objective, unbiased charity rating
service didn’t exist. Disappointed, Mr. and Mrs. Dugan decided donors needed an
easy way to access information about how to donate their funds to create the
most value for society. And thus, Charity Navigator was born with the
mission
to guide intelligent giving.
If you are new to Charity Navigator like me, I find it
helpful to think of it as a tool you might use in the for-profit world to
determine where you’ll get the best financial return on your money. The one
major difference is that Charity Navigator helps donors invest their funds to
get the best SOCIAL return on their money. We call this social investing instead
of donating.
Ultimately, if donors are better educated, they will
presumably allocate funds to the more efficient and effective charities. This
means that less efficient/ effective charities will become starved for funds
and disappear, thereby making more funding available to the charities that
bring about the most social benefits.
To achieve this goal, Charity Navigator rates and provides
information on, at the moment
6,000+
charities. The goal is to reach 10,000 charities over the next few years.
And, in the meantime, Charity Navigator plans to provide basic information for
all, roughly 1.35 million nonprofits that currently exist in
America (although a portion of
these charities provide services in almost every country on the planet).
All that being said, the goal at Charity Navigator is to
provide a guide for donors to become social investors, meaning donors who
allocate their money where it will create the most value. I look forward to being a part of this
organization’s work over at least the next year and serving to impact social
investing in the ultimate goal of increasing social value.
I would love to hear from our readers as to what you would like to see, moving forward, on this blog, so please send me your suggestions to scaron@charitynavigator.org. Thanks!
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 >>
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