As a donor, you deserve to know that your gift is doing the most good possible. You aren't just looking for financial charts; you’re looking for trust, transparency, and measurable impact.

This Spring, Charity Navigator is taking a major step forward to help you do just that. We’re launching a redesigned ratings experience and an enhanced methodology. These updates are designed to give you a clearer, more precise look at how charities operate and their overall impact.

Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming changes and how they’ll empower your giving decisions:

Why is the Charity Navigator methodology being updated?

The charitable world is evolving. Today’s donors require a holistic view of an organization that goes beyond simple overhead ratios and accurately displays the effectiveness of their mission. Our updated methodology will ensure our charity ratings reflect:

• Holistic health: A better-defined evaluation framework , to provide a 360-degree view of an organization.

• Precision: More self-reported data points that allow for a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of effectiveness.

   

How do these changes benefit you as a donor?

We’ve listened to your feedback. You want to spend less time researching and more time supporting the missions you love! These new enhancements offer:

• Smarter giving decisions: Our system now looks deeper into a charity’s true effectiveness, rather than just its financial figures.

• Maximum impact: By identifying top-performing organizations with more detailed information, you can ensure every dollar you give makes a difference.

• Enhanced user experience: A redesigned, comprehensive charity rating page makes it easier to find, read and understand the data that matters most to you.

   

What is the new impact reporting tool?

Central to this update is our partnership with True Impact. Together, we’re introducing a new, flexible framework that allows charities to report outcomes in a standardized way and share their results more effectively.

• Standardized measurement: This tool supports an outcomes-focused approach.

• More impact ratings: You will see a significant increase in the number of impact ratings across our site, giving you a clearer picture of the actual good being done on the ground.

• The nonprofit story: Charities can now better highlight their unique impact model, providing context that numbers alone can't capture.

   

How can I quickly identify highly rated charities?

Transparency is the cornerstone of trust. To help you identify the most open and honest organizations, we’re introducing new transparency signals across our website:

• Complete profile banners: When a charity fully documents its work and practices, a banner will appear on their charity page, indicating a complete profile. This visual indicator will expand to include True Impact’s reporting metrics once that framework is fully integrated in 2027.

• Incentivizing openness: This feature encourages charities to share comprehensive data, so you never have to guess about their leadership or results.

   

Will the Charity Navigator star rating change?

We know that the star rating is a trusted indicator for our donor community! No elements of our previous charity ratings are being removed. Instead, we are adding deeper analysis and more metrics to make the existing star rating system even more meaningful.

Still have questions about our charity ratings, methodology, or how to use our tools? Take a look at our FAQs page.