The BBB Wise Giving Alliance produces impartial evaluative reports on nationally soliciting charitable organizations. The Alliance also publishes the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Guide, a quarterly magazine that includes a summary list of the Alliance’s latest charity evaluations along with articles on charity accountability issues.
Organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or that conduct charitable solicitations fall within the scope of the voluntary Standards for Charity Accountability.
The Alliance requests a soliciting organization’s cooperation in providing information when it generates inquiries from donors and/or potential donors. In addition, a nationally soliciting charitable organization that wishes to be the subject of an Alliance report can submit information at own initiative whether or not inquiries are received about them. Once information has been submitted, however, the final evaluation results, whether the charity meets standards or not, will be publicly available on Give.org.
There is no charge to the charity for the evaluation completed by the Alliance and there is no charge to the public for access to the charity reports posted on Give.org.
Evaluation conclusions for each organization seen on this website is also presented in a detailed written report that summarizes, among other things, the programs, finances, governance and fund raising practices of the charity. In addition, if the charity does not meet standards, a detailed explanation is provided along with comments, if applicable, from the charity itself.
The Evaluation Process
The process of preparing these detailed written reports is a thorough one that goes beyond a review of how the charity spent its money. On an online form with password protected access, a charity answers a series of interactive questions covering governance, fund raising, finances, solicitations, charity effectiveness, and donor privacy issues. In some situations, a charity’s responses will result in drop-down boxes with additional questions.
In addition to the completion of the detailed form, the Alliance will request charities to provide copies of the following three items: (1) latest audited financial statements, (2) IRS Form 990, and (3) annual report. Some organizations will need to provide additional documents, depending on how certain questions are answered.
Through a specialized computer program, the Alliance’s Online Charity Reporting and Evaluation System will make an initial analysis of the charity’s online responses to determine if the charity meets or does not meet the Alliance’s comprehensive Standards for Charity Accountability.
The collected information will automatically generate a draft report on the subject national charity. The draft is then reviewed by Alliance staff and, following the Alliance’s established procedure, forwarded to the subject charity for review and comment prior to distribution through Give.org.
