[Foundation-l] Charity Navigator rates WMF

[Gregory Kohs]

Nathan asks:

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I'm curious what importance you attach to the Charity Navigator
rating, and how you think it is (or should be) relevant to the
operations of the WMF. Care to explain?

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Thank you for asking, Nathan.  As always, I am eager to provide a prompt and
direct response to questions, though that is not standard practice in some
circles.

I make charitable gifts each year that typically total between $3,000 and
$5,000.  Some of my strict rules for charitable giving include (1) don't
ever give on the basis of only a telephone solicitation or an in-person
intercept, and (2) don't ever give without first looking up the organization
on both GuideStar and Charity Navigator.  If another organization can be
found that serves a similar need, but is doing so more efficiently with its
dollars, then my donation goes to that organization, and other less
stringent donors are free to fling their money at a more inefficient
organization.

For example, to help further the cause of truth and knowledge on the
Internet, this year I made a donation to ProCon.org:

http://www.procon.org/aboutus.asp#Financial

...even though it was not yet listed in Charity Navigator, I could still
make a decision in part because I appreciated that 87% of their expenses
were spent on program services, as opposed to 66% at the Wikimedia
Foundation.

Therefore, for me, GuideStar and Charity Navigator are important tools for
me to help decide where my charitable contributions will be directed in a
given year.

How about you?  How do you attach importance to various ways that
independent organizations might put non-profits to an impartial test?  Do
you care how efficient a charitable organization is?  After all, I
co-founded a non-profit organization, and I serve on the board of another,
so maybe I am polarized too far to the "accountability" end of the spectrum.

You may not be aware of the stories behind the Deputy Sheriffs' Fraternal
Organization or the Wishing Well Foundation, but I would be sick to my
stomach if I found that I had donated money to such an organization, only to
discover that they spend less than 20% of revenues on program services.
With the Wikimedia Foundation having recently spent only 31.6% of revenues
on program services, I dare to say they are closer, on a true percentage
basis on the books, to organizations like the Deputy Sheriffs' Fraternal
Organization or the Wishing Well Foundation than they are to ProCon.org and
the Red Cross.

Greg