How the Charity Rater Works
Toolkit for donors
The Charity Rater is different than all the other rating systems, it educates and empowers individual donors to evaluate nonprofits themselves. The final score is based upon what the users find or cannot find on the charity’s website. More than just a rating system; the Charity Rater is a toolkit for good donorship.
Charity Scores
Upon submitting your answers, you will receive an overall score as well as scores for each section (finances, evaluations, needs assessment, governing board, etc…). Each score is the percentage of points the nonprofit receives out of the total points possible for that section. The final score also includes a list of “red flags” that the donor should be aware of.
Format
The rating system’s format is similar to an on-line survey with approximately 10 multiple choice questions. The donor answers each question based on the information found – or not found – on the nonprofit’s website. The total number of questions will vary, based on the answer to previous questions some questions will be activated and others will remain inactive and hidden. You may choose to stop at any time, but it’s recommended that you answer all questions before making a decision to donate. The process takes approximately 5 – 10 minutes to complete, your investment of time will help you become a better, more empowered donor.
What you need to use the system
The rating system works best when done with the nonprofit’s website. If there is no website a second option is the annual report or talking to the organization directly. Rating a charity based on solely on their promotional material will not be successful as these materials do not provide adequate information.
Nonprofit transparency
The accuracy of this rating system, and most others, is limited by the lack of transparency on most nonprofit websites. You may find that the organization you are trying to rate does not share meaningful information with donors.
If you cannot easily find the information you need to answer the questions, then the aid organization has not provided the donating public with the information they need to make informed funding decisions. Let the charity know what information you need and that you would like them to make this same information readily available to all donors in the future.
Transparency is a serious problem in the aid world. The lack of transparency makes it impossible for donors, charity watchdogs, or the larger aid world to hold organizations accountable for providing quality, appropriate assistance. Nonprofits will only become more transparent when individual donors, like you, require and reward it.
What should NOT be evaluated with this system
This system is not designed to be used with foundations or with umbrella organizations because they do not lead projects but instead fund or oversee other organizations. An example of an umbrella organization would be Care International. If you are interested in rating Care look instead at a member organization, such as Care USA, Care Netherlands, or Care Kenya.
Future improvements
If you have suggestions on how we can improve the system, please take a minute to share your ideas. Planned future improvements include the following:
- Compiled scores will eventually be available. Once enough different users have rated the same organization and received similar scores, the average scores will be spot checked for accuracy and then made available to a wider audience.
- A translation feature will be added to allow the system to be used in several different languages