Charity Navigator recently completed our fifth annual national study to determine and analyze any statistical differences that may exist in the financial practices of charities located in different metropolitan markets across America.

Methodology
We began by segmenting the charities in our database into 30 major metropolitan markets.

• The 30 metro markets account for 55% of the 5,200 charities evaluated by Charity Navigator.
• These charities generate 65% of the total revenue and total expenses.
• The largest market included 562 charities and the smallest comprised 29.

Using the data we've obtained from the charities' Forms 990, we calculated the median value of the following sixteen variables to reveal possible differences in financial practices of the various philanthropic metropolitan markets.

Results
Our analysis, completed in May of 2007, demonstrated that the financial behavior of America's largest charities is influenced by the metropolitan market within which the charity operates. For example, Charity Navigator proved that charities in Philadelphia have the highest administrative expenses. This is due to the high cost of living in that area and to the fact that Philadelphia has one of the highest concentrations of arts groups, which tend to encounter significantly above-average administration fees. We also learned that charities in rapidly growing cities, like Phoenix, are able to aggressively increase their revenues and expand their programs, while charities in cities with stagnant economies, like Detroit, are failing to grow their revenues and programs at least at the rate of inflation. For more differences between cities, use the interactive chart on the right.

Press Release - May 30, 2007
How Does Your City's Charitable Community Stack Up?

© 2007 Charity Navigator. Note: all data is based on Charity Navigator's May 2007 Metro Market Charitable Analysis Study. These sector reports do not claim to represent median data for all charities. Charity Navigator is the largest evaluator of 501 (c) (3) charities in the U.S.

Interactive Chart