Watchdog: Best–and worst–bangs for your charity bucks

If you’re thinking about donating to the Dallas, Texas-based Point of View Ministries or to the Defeat Diabetes Foundation of Madeira Beach, Fla. you might want to reconsider. Those groups are among the consistently lowest scoring nonprofit organizations at Charity Navigator. The charity watchdog has released a study of groups that repeatedly earn its top 4-star rating and, conversely, those that repeatedly get 0 stars.

The group’s scores are based on various factors, including how much of their money is spent on programs instead of fundraising or other purposes,

It listed nine groups that it said consistently have received 0 stars. Clicking on the names below will take you to their ratings page on Charity Navigator's web site.

Point of View Ministries, Dallas, Texas

Defeat Diabetes Foundation, Madeira Beach, Fla.

National Veterans Services Fund, Inc.,  Darien, Conn.

Youth Development Fund, Knoxville, Tenn.

Children's Charity Fund, Inc., Sarasota, Fla.

SPD Foundation,  Greenwood Village, Colo.

Wishing Well Foundation USA, Metairie, La.

Deputy Sheriffs' Fraternal Organization,  Indianapolis, Ind.

Firefighters Charitable Foundation, Farmingdale, NY.

Many of the organization’s top scorers were colleges and universities, although there were other top-rated groups as well. Among the consistent 4-star recipients are:

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.

Northeastern University,  Boston, Mass.

Stanford University, Stanford Calif.

Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC

The Children's Aid Society, New York, N.Y.

Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, Kansas City, Kan.

Breast Cancer Research Foundation, New York, N.Y.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass.

Food For The Poor, Coconut Creek, Fla.

–Anthony Giorgianni

Comments

[A Generous Giver]

One of my favorite 4 star charities is Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA. They do incredible work both locally and internationally, are leaders in the field of blindness education and are incredibly responsible with all funds raised. Check them out at www.Perkins.org!

[Paul]

Charity Navigator rankings are awful. There is a lot of research out there showing how program ratio is not useful. Everything from fraud to poor management can go on in a nonprofit and these ratios will not capture them.

Good link here
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122963299671419401.html

[elaygee]

Food for the Poor is the biggest family run fake charity in the world. It is owned and operated by one family who take huge paychecks, charge huge expenses and there is one kid in Peru who gets a cheese sandwich mailed to him once a year for Christmas.

[Dan Jordan]

Charity Navigator rankings awful? A strong claim, and no alternative to it has been suggested by the critic. I generally trust Consumer Reports to guide me, else why am I subscribed to it? I use resources like CR and Charity Navigator because I don't have the time and expertise they possess to do the investigations myself.