Tips for Giving This Holiday Season
Charity Navigator offers the following guidelines to ensure your holiday contributions are well-spent.
- Use Charity Navigator’s expanded ratings to gain more knowledge to do more good
- Dig beyond storytelling to look for evidence of impact
- Check the charity’s programs to ensure its efforts truly match your philanthropic passions
- Skip the gala and write a check
Year-End Giving Survey
To gain a better understanding of giving trends for the 2011 year-end giving season, we recently ran two surveys: one targeted at donors and one for charity representatives. Our survey explored the:
- Predictions for year-end giving (will it be greater, less than or the same as last year)
- Importance of year-end donations and online giving to the charities’ bottom line
- Factors that motivate people to give at year-end
- Issues that are most important in selecting a charity
- Kinds of charities that donors are most likely to support at year-end
Our findings may surprise you! Review the Results Now
Giving Facts
- Contributions are deductible in the year made. Thus, donations charged to a credit card before the end of 2011 count for 2011. This is true even if the credit card bill isn't paid until 2012. Also, checks count for 2011 as long as they are mailed in 2011 and clear, shortly thereafter.
- 51% of the organizations evaluated by Charity Navigator have accumulated at least a year's worth of working capital to fall back on during economic downturns, up 26% from two years before.
- More than 13.3 million people—greater than the combined populations of New York City and Los Angeles—are in need of immediate assistance due to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa.
- Donations to the nation's 400 biggest charities increased 3.5% in 2010. However, looking only at those charities that primarily depend on cash gifts, giving was virtually flat (up just 0.2%). And the modest increases do not make up for the 11% decline in 2009.
- Retailers took in over $45 billion in sales during the four-day weekend surrounding Black Friday, 2010. Arts charities took in $13.28 billion in contributions for the entire year of 2010.
- Even with the recent economic decline, over 50% of the organizations evaluated by Charity Navigator have increased their programs and services while also increasing their primary revenue.
Top 10 List Expanded
Highest and Lowest-Rated Charities by Cause
We offer the following list as a quick reference guide to the highest and lowest-rated charity in each cause that we evaluate. In providing this list, our goal is to help you navigate the crowded charitable marketplace and make intelligent giving decisions.
View the List
Help Other Donors Give Wisely!
Write a review about a nonprofit you know.
Did you know that donations increase dramatically during the last 2 months of the year? Help us inform other donors about which charities they should support by sharing information about which ones you give to and why (or why not).
These are a few charities that received reviews within the past week that were voted most helpful.
Help your favorite charty get featured here. Don’t delay - Write a Review Now!
