Is ICHF a good steward of money?

When corporations, foundations, individuals, service clubs, etc. donate to a charity like the International Children’s Heart Foundation they want to know if we are good stewards of their donation. In other words, is ICHF making the best use of the funds that donors entrust to us? Do we use those funds to pay extravagant salaries, buy expensive office equipment, wine and dine people, etc? Or…..does ICHF use each dollar wisely and try to save as many children as possible with each dollar donated?

It can be very hard for donors to discern the financial “smarts” of non-profit organizations. One group that is making it easier is Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator, America’s premier independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,500 of America’s largest charities.

From the Charity Navigator website: We rate charities by evaluating two broad areas of financial health, their organizational efficiency and their organizational capacity. We use a set of financial ratios or performance categories to rate each of these two areas, and we issue an overall rating that combines the charity’s performance in both areas. Our ratings show givers how efficiently we believe a charity will use their support today, and to what extent the charities are growing their programs and services over time. We provide these ratings so that givers can make intelligent giving decisions, and so that the philanthropic community can more effectively monitor itself.

ICHF is proud to note that Charity Navigator points out that to raise $1.00, ICHF spends only $0.02.  Charity Navigator also gives ICHF its highest rating for Organizational Capacity — how well a charity can sustain its efforts over time: average annual growth of primary revenue, average annual growth of program expenses, and working capital ratio.

Read the Charity Navigator announcement letter here: Charity Navigator Letter to ICHF.

Go directly to the ICHF report card here.

Thanks to all the donors to ICHF. And thanks to all the ICHF staff for making great use of donor’s contributions.