During its second full year of operations, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance (the Alliance) completed a number of important initiatives to further its goal of strengthening charity accountability and assisting donors in making more informed giving decisions.

In March 2003, the Alliance (formed by the merger of the National Charities Information Bureau and the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Foundation, which housed the Philanthropic Advisory Service) issued the revised Standards for Charity Accountability. This project was the culmination of over three years of work that involved a major survey of donor expectations, numerous deliberations with the charitable community, and the distribution of an exposure draft for comment. The effort was guided by an expert panel that included representatives from national and local charities, foundations, corporate contribution officers, an accountant, a state regulator, and Better Business Bureau CEOs. The final version of the revised standards incorporated new areas such as donor privacy, charity website disclosures, and charity effectiveness, as well as continuing areas of interest such as use of funds and governance.

In addition, the Alliance launched a national charity seal program. National charities that the Alliance has determined meet the revised Standards for Charity Accountability may, if they wish, display the seal in their mailings and advertisements online. Participation in the program is voluntary. Charities choosing to have the seal sign a license agreement and pay a fee based on their total contribution income in the last year. The seal is intended to be a clear, concise and accessible means for potential donors to know that a national charity meets the BBB charity standards. Through its use, the seal will bring greater public attention both to the existence of the standards and to the Alliance as a source of information about giving. This is the first time that national charities that meet our standards have been permitted to state that fact in their materials or to use the Better Business Bureau name.

The Give.org website continues to serve as a growing source of helpful public information on wise giving practices and provides free access to the Alliance's latest evaluations of national charities in relation to the BBB charity standards. During 2003, the Give.Org site received over 45 million hits and 1.6 million visits - approximately a 32% increase over 2002 website totals. In the coming year, the Alliance will focus on new ways to reach more donors and provide them with more information. It will seek to issue an increased number of charity evaluations and to help charities strengthen their accountability by following the revised charity standards.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance - Roster of Board of Directors

2003 IRS Form 990 (Please note that this file is in a PDF format which requires your system to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. Because of its large size (28 pages) it may take a while to open. If you need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program please click here.)