Charity Navigator

I found a very interesting website today, charitynavigator.org, which I had actually heard of before, but only now looked at for the first time. It reviews and rates non-profit organizations. You can search the site using a variety of parameters.

What struck me as particularly interesting was the disparity of the endowments in the health-oriented non-profits versus cultural institutions, museums in particular. Most of the large museums have operating revenues in excess of $500,000,000, while most of the larger health-related charities have about $10,000,000. I'm not trying to pass judgment, just found it very interesting to note where society's priorities lie. Not to mention that all of the executive directors of the cultural institutions I looked up (e.g., the Met, MoMa, Museum of Natural History) had salaries in excess of $500,000 per year. Which I suppose is commensurate with the budgets of the respective organizations. But these are supposed to be non-profits.

And just so you all know where your donations are going, the Lance Armstrong Foundation received the highest rating, 4 stars (exceptional), and was the #1 rated cancer charity in the country.

You might want to visit Charity Navigator the next time you are considering a charitable donation. I certainly found some surprises there.