Top Charities - Who Can You Trust?

There are hundreds of charities operating in the United States, most all of them seeking a donation from you andf everyone else they can think of to ask. These organizations fight for a variety of causes from Wildlife to Breast Cancer. When you donate to a charity you probably do so because you believe in what they are doing, or you want to help a specific cause, whatever it may be. While most Americans are very generous to charities, many of us have become skeptical. How are they spending our money? How much of it goes to the cause I intended it for? Am I donating money just so some executive can earn more money in a year than I will earn in a decade? All very real questions, and questions a responsible person should ask.

There is a group which reports on charities and how well they are doing or not doing. By visiting www.charitynavigator.org you can check up on any of hundreds of charities. For the purposes of this article, we will look at 20 of the best known charities. Their ranking will be determined by how much of the money they collect goes to the cause they proclaim to fight for, what their overall administrative costs are, and the pay of their top executives. Some of these organizations do very well while others seem to be dealing with a variety of issues when it comes to spending.

Here are how the 20 selected charities rank according to the criteria listed. I attempted to select the 20 best known charities regardless of the area of their work. The groups are very diverse, but I believe you will be familiar with each.

20) American Cancer Society - pays their top executive $619,000 per year and only spends 68.4% of the money raised on what it was intended.

19) American Heart Association - has the highest paid top executive on our list with an annual salary of over $732,000 a year.

18) NAACP - Just a little over half the money donated is actually spent on the items this organization vows to work toward.

17) Make A Wish - is a group with great intentions, but their administrative costs are among the highest of the group.

16) St Judes Research Hospital - finishes in the lower rankings in all three categories.

15) March of Dimes - pays their top executive over half a million a year whiel spending 76.7% of money donated on the actual cause.

14) Susan Komen - receives very good marks for percent spent on cause, but their administrative and top executive pay are above average.

13) MDA - ranks in the middle on all three categories.

12) Children's Defense Fund - great numbers on percentage spent on the cause at 83.4% but their high administrative costs pushed them down in the rankings.

11) World Wildlife Fund - ranked near average in all categories but their top executive pay was a little above the norm.

The top ten:

10) American Red Cross - spends 89.2% of monies raised on the cause, but pays their top executive in excess of half a million a year.

9) American Diabetes Foundation - has one of the lowest administrative cost of the group, a sign of a well run organization.

8) Cyctic Fibrosis - had excellent numbers in two of the three categories, but their top executive pay pulled them down slightly, coming in at $576,000 a year

7) Christian Children's Fund - had good numbers across the board and spends 82% of all money on the children.

6) CARE - spends an amazing 90% of all money raised on the cause. The only category that pulled them down was their executive pay.

5) Habitat For Humanity - has good numbers across the board and spends 84.9% of money raised on homes for the needy.

4) PETA - One of the smaller organizations in the group but they are well run and have the lowest top executive pay of our group.

3) Dave Thomas Foundation - had great numbers in all areas and spends 91.6% of monies received to aide in the adoption of kids.

2) Oprah's Angel Network - has the highest percentage of monies received going to the cause at a very impressive 93.2%. Their administrative costs were slightly higher than our other top groups which cost them the top slot.

1) Doctors Without Borders - came in at number one by having the lowest administrative cost in the group, the third lowest executive pay, and by spending 86.6% of the monies received on their actual work.

If there are other charities you wish to know about, you can visit the Charity Navigator website and conduct a search. It is an easy site to use and offers a great deal of information.

Source:
Charity Navigator