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| 5 |
| 501(c)(3): Organizations described under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are public charities that are tax-exempt and eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. Their earnings do not benefit private individuals, no substantial part of their activities should be used to influence legislation, and they do not participate in political campaigns or political endorsements. All charities in our database are classified under § 501(c)(3) and file Federal Forms 990 with the IRS. |
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| A |
| Administrative Expenses: This measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on overhead, administrative staff and associated costs, and organizational meetings. Dividing a charity's administrative expenses by its total functional expenses yields this percentage. |
| Assets: A charity's assets include cash, savings, investments, property, and other items of ownership with an exchange value. By maintaining reserves of assets, a charity is able to further advance its purposes and meet its growing needs. |
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| C |
| Capacity Rating: The scale below shows how a charity's capacity rating is derived from its capacity score.
4-Star: 22.5 to 30
3-Star: 17.5 to 22.5
2-Star: 12.5 to 17.5
1-Star: 2.5 to 12.5
0-Star: < 2.5 |
| Category/Cause: We classify charities in nine groups or Categories based on their respective services. A Category represents a broad area of charitable activity (e.g., Health). We further divide the charities in each Category into smaller groups or Causes. Each Cause refers to a more narrowly defined area of charitable activity (e.g., Medical Research). Each broad Category contains 2 or more specific Causes. |
| CFC: The Combined Federal Campaign, the nation’s largest workplace giving campaign, offers federal civilian employees, members of the military, and U.S. Postal Service workers the opportunity to contribute to charities. Charity Navigator rates nearly 1,000 of the participating charities. To locate a rating for a specific charity enrolled in the campaign, simply enter its CFC number in the search box. Alternatively, you can limit any search to charities in the CFC by using our advanced search tool or by selecting CFC as a filter criteria on the search results page. |
| Charity: A charity exists to serve a societal or group mission, and does not pursue a self-interest or pay out profit to individuals. It is recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt and eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. We use the terms charity and non-profit interchangeably. |
| Charts: These charts are derived from the data extracted from the organization's 990 and subsequently evaluated by Charity Navigator. The specific functionality of each chart is articulated in the glossary entry for that particular chart. |
| Compensation: Using information reported on an organization's most recent Form 990, we include as compensation an individual's salary, cash bonuses, and expense accounts and other allowances. We do not include contributions to benefit plans or compensation deferred to a future date. |
| Compensation from Affiliates: Some charities are able to pay their leaders though multiple affiliated organizations. Using information reported on an organization's most recent Form 990, we list an individual's aggregate compensation from related organizations. This compensation can include salary, cash bonuses, expense accounts and other allowances. |
| Contact Information: This box displays an organization's address, phone and fax numbers, and web and email addresses. This is the most current information available to the giving public, and may be pulled from that organization's web site, stationery, annual report, or 990. |
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| D |
| Donor Privacy Policy: Donor Privacy Policy: In addition to our financial ratings, Charity Navigator
also evaluates each charity's commitment to donors' privacy rights.
In order to meet our criteria, the charity must have a donor privacy policy
in writing, guaranteeing that they will not sell or trade their donors'
personal or contact information with anyone else, nor will they send mailings on behalf of other organizations. Furthermore, the policy must
be prominently displayed on the charity's website or in its marketing
and solicitation materials. Each charity's rating page includes one of
the following four assessments:
- Yes: We have confirmed that this charity has a written
donor privacy policy in place, which states in no uncertain terms that it will not sell, trade or share your personal information with anyone else, nor send mailings on behalf of other organizations.
- Opt-out: We have determined that this charity has a privacy policy which requires you to tell the charity to remove your name and contact information from mailing lists it sells, trades or shares. Opt-out terms and conditions vary from one charity to the next, but all require the donor to initiate the act.
- No: This charity does not have a written donor privacy
policy in place to protect their contributors' personal information.
- Pending: This charity has been added to our site as of
the first of this month. We give all new charities 30 days to respond to our
request to review their donor privacy policy.
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| E |
| Efficiency Rating: The scale below shows how a charity's efficiency rating is derived from its efficiency score.
4-Star: 37.5 to 40
3-Star: 32.5 to 37.5
2-Star: 27.5 to 32.5
1-Star: 22.5 to 27.5
0-Star: < 22.5 |
| EIN (Employer Identification Number): A unique number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service to every employer in the United States for the purposes of identification. Similar in purpose to the Social Security Number assigned to individuals. |
| Excess (or deficit): The difference between a charity's total revenue and its total expenses. |
| Expenses: A charity's expenses include spending on such things as salaries, supplies, equipment, travel, and conferences. They can also include the value of donated goods that a charity distributes. |
| Expenses Breakdown: This chart compares a charity's program, administrative, and fundraising expenses as a percentage of their total functional expenses. |
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| F |
| Form 990: For every fiscal year it is in operation, a charity discloses its financial and programmatic information in an annual federal return filed with the IRS. Forms 990 are public documents. By law, a copy of the forms must be supplied to anyone who requests them. We use Forms 990 as the primary source of information for evaluating charities. |
| Fundraising Efficiency: The amount spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its fundraising expenses by the total contributions it receives. |
| Fundraising Expenses: This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. Fundraising expenses can include campaign printing, publicity, mailing, and staffing and costs incurred in soliciting donations, memberships, and grants. Dividing a charity's fundraising expenses by its total functional expenses yields this percentage. |
| FYE: The twelve month period defining a charity's annual cycle of activity, at the
conclusion of which a charity files an informational tax return Form 990 with
the IRS. A charity can designate any month as the beginning of its fiscal year.
We commonly refer to a charity's FYE (fiscal year ending), the month, day, and
year when a charity's fiscal year ends. For example, we would refer to a fiscal
year ranging from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002 as FYE 2002. |
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| I |
| Income Statement: All financial information we present derives from the Federal Forms 990 filed by charities with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This particular statement shows the breakdown of a charity's revenue and expenses, its payments to affiliates, excess or deficit, and total net assets reported in the most recent fiscal year. |
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| L |
| Leadership: The person identified as holding the highest position of management, and therefore who would normally be responsible for carrying out the mission of the charity and leading the organization on a day-to-day basis. Common titles categorized as such are Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Executive Director and President. The name, title, and compensation for this executive appear as reported on the most recent 990 available to the public. |
| Leadership Compensation: The compensation paid to the person identified as holding the highest management position at the charity for the accounting period reflected on the income statement of the charity. |
Leadership Compensation and Other Salaries of Note as a Percentage of Total Expenses: Many donors are understandably interested in how much the leaders of charities earn. This information is public record so Charity Navigator reports it for our users. This information does not factor into an organization's Charity Navigator rating. We provide this percentage so donors can quickly put the salary into perspective. For comparative purposes, a charity with total expenses of $20 million, which compensates its highest paid executive at $200,000 per year (or 1%) would appear to have tighter control on expenses than the $1 million organization which pays its chief executive the same amount (or 20% of expenses for one person).
Registered users can view leadership salaries and percentages side-by-side using the "compare charities" feature. It is accessible to registered users on the search results page and their "My Charities" page as well as on each charity's rating page by clicking "Compare These Charities."
Two things you should know: 1) If a charity has not reported a salary for its chief executive, that does not necessarily mean the leadership is actually uncompensated. The charities we rate are all large, complex organizations that rarely can succeed with voluntary leadership. More likely, the charity has not, in violation of IRS code, provided the data in an appropriate manner. If you are considering a donation to a charity which does not report executive level compensation, we encourage you to contact that charity directly to ascertain how that charity is able to thrive without having to pay their executives. (Please note, for those few organizations where we have confirmed volunteer leadership, we show “not compensated”, and will list other salaries of management). 2) Some charities are able to pay their leaders through multiple affiliated organizations -- allowing them to report a lower salary on any one 990, satisfying donors who want to keep the number low. Charity Navigator publishes the salary paid by the charity, as well as the portion paid by an affiliate entity (or entities), in separate columns; this lets donors know how much the CEO earns for running that organization, no matter how diverse the money trail. |
| Liabilities: The debt for which a charity is legally responsible. Liabilities include mortgages, loans, and other items payable. |
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| M |
| Mission: A statement of an organization's purpose, programs, and services rendered. Charities often define their core purposes in a formal mission statement. "Mission" as it appears below is not necessarily a charity's formal mission statement. This mission, however, does consist entirely of text taken from each organization's own web site, Form 990, annual report, and/or brochure. |
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| N |
| Net Assets: The difference between a charity's assets and its liabilities. Although charities do not exist to make money, they do work to build and maintain reasonable reserves of net assets. Growing its net assets helps a charity outpace inflation and sustain future program activities. |
| Non-profit: A non-profit organization exists to serve a societal or group mission, and does not pursue a self-interest or pay out profit to individuals. It is recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt and eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. We use non-profit and charity interchangeably. |
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| O |
| Organizational Capacity: We assess three key indicators to determine how well a charity can sustain its efforts over time: average annual growth of primary revenue, average annual growth of program expenses, and working capital ratio. We issue a rating in each category, as well as a rating that combines a charity's performance in all three categories. |
| Organizational Efficiency: We assess four key indicators to determine how efficiently and responsibly a charity functions day to day: fundraising efficiency, fundraising expenses, program expenses, and administrative expenses. We issue a rating in each of the four categories, as well as a rating that combines a charity's performance in all four categories. |
| Other Revenue: In addition to primary revenue sources, charities derive revenue from investments, rents, special events, sales of inventory, and other unrelated business income. |
Other Salaries of Note: The compensation paid to Board Directors; persons earning as much or more than the chief executive; former chief executives still on payroll; relatives of key decision makers (such as Board members, founders and officers); and persons holding honorary titles within the organization.
Further, if a charity does not disclose the compensation of the chief executive, we report the compensation paid to the person responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the organization. Also, we list other highly compensated employees who may assume functions traditionally performed by a chief executive officer. |
| Overall Rating: The scale below shows how a charity's overall rating is derived from its overall score.
4-Star: 60 to 70
3-Star: 50 to 60
2-Star: 40 to 50
1-Star: 25 to 40
0-Star: < 25 |
| Overall Score: A charity's overall score, on a scale of 0 to 70, is derived by adding its Organizational Efficiency and Organizational Capacity scores. |
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| P |
| Payments to Affiliates: Payments certain charities distribute to national, state, or other closely affiliated organizations. These payments or dues are used for a variety of purposes and are not typically included in a charity's functional expenses. We do, however, include these payments in a charity's total expenses. |
| Performance Categories: Our rating system analyzes seven performance categories of a charity's financial health. Those analyses are based on separate and relatively simple mathematical formulas, and serve as key indicators of two broad areas of a charity's financial health: its organizational efficiency and its organizational capacity. |
| Primary Revenue: The revenue a charity generates as a result of the work it does. A charity's primary revenue includes grants and contributions, revenue produced from programs and services, and membership fees and dues. |
| Primary Revenue Growth: We compute the average annual growth of primary revenue using the following formula:
[(Yn/Y0)(1/n)]-1, where Y0 is a charity's
primary revenue in the first year of the interval analyzed, Yn is the
charity's primary revenue in the most recent year, and n is the interval of years
passed between Y0 and Yn. |
| Program Expenses: This measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. Dividing a charity's program expenses by its total functional expenses yields this percentage. |
| Program Expenses Growth: We compute the average annual growth of program expenses using the following formula:
[(Yn/Y0)(1/n)]-1,
where Y0 is a charity's program expenses in the first year of the interval analyzed,
Yn is the charity's program expenses in the most recent year, and n is the interval
of years passed between Y0 and Yn. |
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| R |
| Ratings: Charity Navigator's ratings measure the overall financial health of charities. We assign every charity ratings ranging from 0- to 4-stars for its organizational efficiency, organizational capacity, and overall financial health. Our ratings indicate how well a charity meets industry-accepted standards and how well it compares with the other charities we evaluated. |
| Region: The physical area where a charity primarily renders and practices its services. We classify a charity as regional, national, or international in scope. It may function locally within a particular state or region of the country, operate on a national level or to influence national policies, or serve countries and people internationally. |
| Revenue: Charities can derive revenue or funding from a variety of sources, including contributions, program services, membership dues, interest on savings, investment income, special events, and sales of inventory. |
| Revenue/Expenses Trend: This chart compares a charity's primary revenue and its program expenses over the course of its three most recent fiscal years. Frequently, as a charity's funding increases, its spending on programs and services should increase as well. |
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| T |
| Total Contributions: The sum of donations and grants a charity receives from individuals, corporations, foundations and the government. |
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| W |
| Working Capital Ratio: Determines how long a charity could sustain its level of spending using its net liquid assets, or working capital, as reported on its most recently filed Form 990. We include in a charity's working capital its cash and cash equivalents, its savings, accounts, pledges, and grants receivable; its investments in securities; and its accounts and grants payable and accrued expenses. Dividing these net liquid assets by a charity's total expenses (including payments to affiliates) for the most recent fiscal year, yields the working capital ratio. |
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