Worst Charities in America?

The Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting recently teamed up for a three part expose about unethical non-profit practices, which they called “America’s Worst Charities.” The articles were just the latest in a series of debates over what standards we use to measure the impact and practices of non-profit organizations.America’s Worst Charities profiled NGOs that hired shady for-profit fundraising companies to raise money for them. These fundraising companies siphon off as much as 90% of the donations they raised from unsuspecting donors. Articles in other publications have also dug deeper into how non-profits raise money, how they value donations and how they spend their money. The Chronicle of Philanthropy made waves this year with their own investigation on how relief organizations valued durable goods they receive from corporate donors. And Charity Navigator, GuideStar and the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance recently joined forces to publish an open letter decrying the overreliance on “overhead” expenses to evaluate non-profits’ effectiveness.  En el fondo Crossroads, this is a topic we think about a lot, although not necessarily in the same framework as these recent investigations. Although we certainly care whether our grantees are raising money ethically and stewarding their resources well, we have other important factors we consider as well:Is an organization led by the people most impacted by the issues they are organizing around?Are they addressing the root causes of the problems impacting them, or just treating the symptoms?Are they working across issues and communities, interested in participating in broader movements for social change, or do they see their work in a silo?Do they receive grassroots support from their community, or are they relying on funding from a couple of foundations or major donors?The investigative work that the Tampa Bay Times and others are doing to expose unethical fundraising and non-profit practices is important, and non-profit fraud and waste damages all non-profit organizations. At the same time, we know that evaluating social change work can’t just be boiled down to a number or a percentage or a simple rule. Different structures and tactics and organizational forms work best in different communities, and that is why we take the time to really understand our applicants and grantees, so that we can invest our donors’ money in the most innovative and effective grassroots groups in Chicago.