If you are starting to think about year-end tzedakah giving, here’s a plug for Charity Navigator – a incredibly helpful on-line “charity evaluator” that does a comprehensive financial evaluation of thousands of American charities. It’s a particularly helpful guide to intelligent giving.
Charity Navigator rates charities by evaluating two broad areas of financial health: organizational efficiency and capacity. They use a set of financial ratios or performance categories to rate each of these two areas, and issue an overall rating that combines the charity’s performance in both areas. So if you are ever unsure about how efficiently one of your favorite causes is using your donations, Charity Navigator is a very trustworthy place to turn.
FYI, among prominent Jewish institutions, the following received their coveted four-star rating:
American Jewish Committee, American Jewish World Service, Americans for Peace Now, Chai Lifeline, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, Jewish Community Centers Association, North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry, and the Ziv Tzedakah Fund.
The venerable American Jewish Joint Distribution Commitee actually ranked second in their list of “10 Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of.” (On the opposite end of the spectrum, I was recently dismayed to learn that one of my favorite organizations, the Israel Policy Forum, came in sixth on a list entitled, “10 Charities in Deep Financial Trouble.”)
I’ve especially appreciated the website’s tips and resources for giving, including “questions to ask before donating,” “tips for giving in times of crisis,” and “a guide to volunteering.” I also recommend Charity Navigator’s President Trent Stamp’s great blog, billed as “an insider’s perspective to the inspiring, intruiging, and sometimes idiotic inner workings of the world of non-profits and charities.”
Another great site for the tzedakah minded is Just Give, http://www.justgive.org/ . You can use it find charity ratings and profiles from Guidestar, another great rating service; but it will also tell you where and how to donate goods: used cell phones, computers, eyeglasses, prostheses, furniture, etc. You can even set up charity gift registries and wishlists, or do all your holiday shopping at an online “charity mall.”