Nonprofits, Philanthropic Organizations and Grant Writing Resource Guide: Charity Evaluation and Foundation Info

Billing itself as "America's premier independent charity evaluator," Charity Navigator says that it "works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,400 of America's largest charities." Top 10 lists on the opening screen feature topics like "10 Charities with the Most Consecutive 4-Star Ratings" and "10 Highly-Rated Charities with Low Paid CEOs." You can browse by topic or search for a specific nonprofit. Besides a star rating, profiles provide historical data, and even comments (when available). Ratings are based on Organizational Efficiency and Capacity. Income data is provided along with EIN number and links to the group's website. Easier to use and less intrusive than most of the non-profit research sites on the web.

"GuideStar's Mission: To revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving." Unfortunately, at this point, paid subscription is required to access most information. However, here is a sample GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report. Guidestar has done some expanding and has absorbed some other groups and sites recently. One is Philanthropedia, which rates "verified, financially responsible charities according to how much great work they're doing."

"GiveWell is an independent, nonprofit charity evaluator. We find outstanding giving opportunities and publish the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give. Unlike other charity evaluators, which focus solely on financials (assessing administrative or fundraising costs), we focus on how well programs actually work – i.e., their effects on the people they serve."

"GreatNonprofits is the leading developer of tools that allow people to find, review, and share information about great -- and perhaps not yet great -- nonprofits. In this era of social media, millions of people already have discovered that a review by someone who has gone to a restaurant or tried out a doctor is a useful way to evaluate the suitability of those services for themselves. Similarly, if a person has direct experience with a charitable organization, GreatNonprofits makes it easier for him or her to share that knowledge so that other people can discover that group as well."

The Better Business Bureau webpage "For Charities and Donors," links you to the BBB's reports (and letter grades) on charities and other soliciting organizations. These reports are definitely worth looking at, but since not all charities have "BBB Accreditation," many reports have little detail to them. Because many of the reports link out to BBB chapters, connecting is often incredibly slow.

"CharityWatch is a nationally prominent charity rating and evaluation service dedicated to helping donors make informed giving decisions." You have to pay to use much of the site, but you can see their Top-Rated Charities list.

"MinistryWatch.com profiles Public Charities, church and parachurch ministries. It is also a place to learn about how to be a responsible giver....It provides information on organizations alleging to be charitable and its key leadership in order to identify materially misleading behavior, or wasteful spending practices, as well as identifying those operations that are above board and running efficiently. The objective is to limit consequences of scams and prevention of fraudulent activity, promote better allocations of giving, encourage intelligent questions of organizational structure, financial health, and advance the idea of organizational transparency and best practices."

This easy search engine allows you to search and view an organization's 990s or 990-PF IRS return forms by name, state code (e.g. MA), Zip code, employer identification number (EIN), or fiscal year.