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News accounts from the past week noted that India is in the midst of a growing COVID-19 crisis. On Monday, India reported over 350,000 new cases. Cumulatively, more than 17 million cases have been identified since they began taking count. As reported, some experts believe that the actual total may be close to half a billion. As vaccine distribution in India started in January, this second surge was not expected. While all age categories are being impacted, this latest spike is also hitting a larger number of younger people. Some urban areas like New Delhi are seeing significant numbers. Hospitals are experiencing over-capacity demands and oxygen is in short supply in some areas. For donors seeking to help India as it battles these pandemic challenges, BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following advice. 

Indian Restrictions on Foreign Donations

New government regulations, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, that took effect in India in September 2020 place limitations on the use of foreign donations:

• A foreign grant made to an Indian charity cannot be passed along and sub-granted to another organization. This will limit the ability of recipients of foreign donations to extend their reach in other communities.
• All Indian charities are required to establish a new bank account at the State Bank of India that will solely be used to receive foreign donations. Information on the contribution and its intended use is reported to the central Indian government.
• India also further restricted the limit on the way charities use foreign gifts. Only up to 20% of the amount received can be used for administrative/overhead expenses of the recipient Indian charity. (Previously the limit was 50%.)

Crowdfunding

See this previous Wise Giving Wednesday blog for tips on supporting crowdfunding efforts. In general, it is much more difficult to verify the trustworthiness of individuals than it is to assess charities. Remember to review the rules and procedures of crowdfunding sites as they do not all operate in the same way. See if the posting is specific on how funds will be used and if it will update supporters about the activities as they are implemented. If the funding specifies support will go to an established charity, see the new Indian government regulation restrictions noted above and also consider supporting the referenced charity directly by visiting its website as well as Give.org to see if the charity has been evaluated in relation to the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.

Tax Deductibility

In general, only contributions to a U.S. based charity that is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code would be deductible as a charitable gift for federal income tax purposes. Donations given directly to an Indian based charity or to an individual collecting funds on a crowdfunding platform would not be deductible.

The following BBB Accredited Charities (i.e., meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability) report to have programs providing assistance in India. Visit the websites of these charities to learn more about the nature of these efforts. (For information on Canadian-based charities, check with the Canada Revenue Agency.)

CARE USA
Catholic Relief Services
Direct Relief
GlobalGiving Foundation
International Medical Corps
Lutheran World Relief
SEWA International

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring an interview with Beth MacNairn, Deputy Director, Health Volunteers Overseas (a BBB Accredited Charity) that works to address the global health workforce crisis by implementing programs that meet the needs of the host country and institutions, are sustainable, and build local capacity. The organization states that its volunteers provide clinical and didactic education through continuing education and degree granting programs, faculty and staff training, mentoring, education material development, and professional collaboration.

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Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

 

Every April, environmental activists around the world honor our planet through April 22^nd Earth Day celebrations and environmental action. Now in its 51^st year, Earth Day also inspires environmental supporters to reflect on pressing environmental concerns of our time – including climate change, clean air and water, and environmental justice – among others. In fact, according to Giving USA, giving to environmental and animal organizations is more popular than ever, with six consecutive years of growth in giving to the subsector. Giving to environment and animal organizations is estimated to have increased 11.3% between 2018 and 2019, to a total of $14.16 billion. If you are looking to support environmental causes this month, BBB’s Give.org urges you to give thoughtfully by taking time to learn more about charities before donating. Below is a list of environmental charities that have already been vetted by Give.org and have been found to meet high standards of charity accountability. Whether you want to help protect our oceans, forests, wildlife, or future generations, these are charities you can trust.

In recognition of the diversity of programs among environmental charities, BBB’s Give.org has produced a more detailed Environmental Cause page that provides a description of major categories of environmental activities along with links to recent articles about some of the BBB Accredited charities listed below

Nationally-soliciting BBB Accredited Environmental Charities (i.e., meet all 20 BBB Charity Standards for Charity Accountability):

1% for the Planet
Alaska Wilderness League
American Rivers
American Bird Conservancy
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Big Life Foundation USA
Center for Watershed Protection
Ceres
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Conservation Fund
Defenders of Wildlife
Ducks Unlimited
Earth Island Institute
Earthjustice
Earthworks
Food and Water Watch
Friends of the Earth
Galapagos Conservancy
International Rivers
Land Trust Alliance
National Arbor Day Foundation
National Audubon Society
National Environmental Education and Training Foundation
National Park Trust
National Parks Conservation Association
National Wildlife Federation
Nature Conservancy
NumbersUSA Education and Research Foundation
Ocean Conservancy
Pandas international
Planet Aid
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Rainforest Action Network
Sierra Club Foundation
Student Conservation Association
Union of Concerned Scientists  
Waterkeeper Alliance
The Wilderness Society
Wildlands Conservancy
World Resources Institute
World Wildlife Fund
Yosemite Conservancy

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Video of the Week

On a separate note, as part of our Building Trust Video Series we are pleased to provide a video that features Jim Stofan, Senior Vice President, Operations, Defenders of Wildlife (a BBB Accredited Charity.) Defenders of Wildlife works to protect and restore imperiled species throughout North America by transforming policies and institutions and promoting solutions. Defenders promotes the conservation and restoration of North America’s vulnerable species through habitat preservation and restoration on public lands, secures greater wildlife conservation funding, and defends and strengthens wildlife and public land management laws and policies.

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Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

National Volunteer Week takes place from April 18^th to the 24^th. This provides recognition to all the individuals that help charities and others through their generous donation of time. It has been estimated by the Corporation for National and Community Service that 77.4 million people in the U.S. volunteered 6.9 billion hours of their time in 2019 which has been valued at $187.7 billion dollars. The estimates for 2020 will soon be available and it will be interesting to see what impact COVID-19 had on the volume of volunteer hours provided. There is something in the fabric of American society that has fueled the spirit of volunteerism throughout its history. Whether it was assisting neighbors through barn-raising or the volunteers that helped armed service personnel in World War I and World War II, volunteers have played a vital role in strengthening community spirit and helping those in need. Charities today have inherited this rich legacy of people seeking to assist others.

While many are motivated to volunteer, we sometimes hit roadblocks or challenges to achieve this objective. Chiefly among them is finding the “extra” time to donate. Well, that problem is certainly understandable but it can be overcome by considering the following tips when making a volunteer choice.

Pick Your Passion. 
If you volunteer for an organization that is addressing a cause that you really care about, that can add incentive to help. Kelley Bevis, who serves as General Counsel, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, notes in this week’s Heart of Giving Podcast, that “You have to follow your bliss, whatever you’re passionate about you’ll make time for.”

Start Small
You might begin with devoting just a couple hours per month or an hour a week. Something that you can manage without disrupting your other chores and/or work time. Volunteering does not have to involve the effort of a part-time job. Think of it as testing the waters a bit before you decide to take a swim.

Special Skills Are Especially Valued
If your profession and/or work experience provides special skills, consider offering them in a volunteer capacity. An accountant might help a small charity with its books, a plumber might be needed to construct homes for the poor, or a health care worker could lend a hand in a charity clinic. The possibilities are varied. Don’t assume it’s all about ladling soup at the homeless shelter.  

Use Your Time Wisely
Sometimes people have the right motivation to volunteer, but choose the wrong way to use it. For example, after a natural disaster strikes, some may feel like loading up a pick-up truck with water and supplies and head out to help. It you are not doing this in collaboration with an experienced disaster relief charity, you might actually result in getting in the way of planned efforts that already have systems in place to coordinate emergency assistance. Many disaster relief charities welcome and rely on volunteers during such times of need, reach out and let them know you want to assist them.

Look Before You Leap
As always, we urge volunteers, just as we do with donors that contribute funds, to check out charities before you offer your assistance. Visit Give.org to verify if they meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.  You may also want to see if the charity is registered with the appropriate state government agency in your state (usually a division of the Attorney General’s office or the Secretary of State). About 40 of the 50 states have such a requirement. You also can verify an organization’s charitable tax exempt status at this IRS link. In Canada, check with the Canada Revenue Agency.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (a BBB Accredited Charity), an organization that works to preserve the separation of church and state through litigation, advocacy and education efforts.  This includes initiating and supporting lawsuits, providing legal counsel, as well as producing a monthly magazine, issue papers and legislative alerts.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• National Military Family Association
• Patient Access Network Foundation
• World Renew

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

One of the principle lessons in charitable fundraising is that donors contribute when they are “asked” either through direct mail, telephone calls, online requests, grant proposals, fundraising events and/or social media. If there is no ask, there generally is no gift. Of course, there are exceptions to this, especially when people respond to disasters and tragedies by donating to relief and assistance groups addressing emergency needs. However, an article appearing in the Burlington Free Press on April 6^th provides potential insight on another motivation: being inspired by others who give. As reported in the Burlington newspaper, there is a bulletin board in a Vermont State Park where a local resident tacked a dollar bill and challenged others to do the same. The cumulative amount is collected after a period and given to a food pantry. This dollar bill tacking has apparently become a tradition with dollars tacked to the board each year. This time $170 was donated to the pantry. The paper adds that this activity was an experiment in honesty by the organizer. This story has a number of interesting elements. Although one could claim that word-of-mouth sharing about this activity could be deemed to be a type of “ask,” the real prompt for many to give is seeing other dollar bills tacked to the same board and emulating that behavior. It became a type of peer pressure from the community, to follow other people’s good intent, and to do so anonymously. The concept of anonymous cash donations is not new, we have all seen contribution quarter boards placed on the counters of sandwich shops by well-known charities or the bell-ringing kettle campaigns by the Salvation Army during Christmas. What’s different, in this instance, is the simplicity of the display and the unusual location for an act of charity. We are not suggesting that anyone undertake a similar anonymous dollar bill collection in their own community, but the lesson in Vermont shows us that people can sometimes surprise you in their generosity and given the right elements can inspire others to follow suit. We all can do more to help inspire others to contribute to charities. And, of course, we encourage donors to check out organizations to verify if they meet the BBB Charity Standards.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Pamela Timmons, Executive Director of Good Shepherd Ministries of Oklahoma (a BBB Accredited Charity) which seeks to provide free health care for those who are low-income and uninsured in Oklahoma City, including medical services, dental services and prescription medications.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Military Spouse Corporate Career Network
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Salvation Army (National Corporation)

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one. H. Art Taylor, President & CEO BBB Wise Giving Alliance

On March 25, 2021, the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General announced it is suing a company using the names “Contributing to Combatants” and “Coast 2 Coast (C2C) Marketing” for defrauding Minnesota donors. As alleged in the complaint, the company went door to door and misrepresented that it was a nonprofit soliciting donations to send care packages to servicemembers overseas. As stated “C2C does not assemble the care packages or collect the items to comprise the care packages. Rather it claims to partner with a nonprofit organization that collects donated items and builds the care packages with those items. C2C claims to provide the nonprofit with funds to ship the completed packages to the service members.” However, the complaint states further that “…C2C has never used any of the money for that purpose; instead, [the principal] used that money to line his own pockets.”

On March 28, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission along with the Office of the Florida Attorney General announced that it issued a stipulated order for permanent injunction and monetary judgment against a Sarasota-based charity, American Veterans Foundation. As stated in a press release form the Attorney General, the founder of the charity “…signed an order agreeing to a permanent ban against soliciting charitable donations or participating in oversight and management of charities in the future. According to the complaint, filed at the same time as the settlement agreement, AVF raised approximately $6.5 million between 2014 and 2017 from donors nationwide based on misleading promises that donations would assist veterans.”  As alleged, the organization engaged in misleading mail brochures and high pressure telephone appeals that implied it was preventing veteran homelessness when less than three percent of funds went towards this objective.

To help contributors make wise giving decisions when giving to charities that claim to be helping veterans and/or active servicemembers, BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following advice:

• Avoid Mistaken Identity. Some veterans charities include the same words in different order or slightly different form. So, be alert and make sure the organization you are considering is the one you want to support.
• Find Out What They Do. Don’t assume what the veterans organization does based on their name alone. Look for a clear description of the organization’s programs in its appeals and on its website.
• Be Careful with Phone Appeals. If not managed properly, some telemarketing campaigns for veterans organizations can be an expensive way to raise funds with very little going to the organization. If called, do not hesitate to ask for written information or visit the group’s website to find out about its programs and finances before making a giving decision.
• Watch Out for Excessive Pressure.  Don’t be pressured to make an immediate on-the-spot donation to a veterans organization. Charities should welcome your gift whenever you want to send it.
• Ask How Donated Items Will Be Used. Find out how the charity benefits from the collection and resale of used clothing and other in-kind gifts. Sometimes the charity receives only a small portion of the resale price of the item or may have a contractual arrangement to get a flat fee for every household pick-up, no matter what the contents.
• Check Give.org: In addition to charity reports on BBB’s Give.org and BBB.org check with your state government’s charity registration agency, usually a division of either the Attorney General’s office or Secretary of State’s office. In Canada, check with the Canada Revenue Agency.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video interview with Kate Grant, CEO of Fistula Foundation, a BBB Accredited Charity that works to end the suffering caused by the childbirth injury obstetric fistula by increasing the availability of treatment for patients in Africa and Asia and training for medical professionals.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• National Breast Cancer Foundation
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Project Concern International

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

 

 

Yesterday, March 23^rd, was our 20^th anniversary under the name “BBB Wise Giving Alliance.” Our history of charity reporting, however, goes back over a century. Originally, we functioned as a division of the national office of the Better Business Bureau and produced reports on nationally-soliciting charities starting in the 1920’s. Charity reporting efforts at BBBs, both nationally and regionally, expanded after World War II with the development of many war relief efforts. Then in 1971, when the national office re-organized and re-located to Washington, DC, the division’s name changed to Philanthropic Advisory Service. In 2001, the Philanthropic Advisory Service program merged with the National Charities Information Bureau which began in 1918 as the first organization in the nation to establish charity accountability standards. Both charity reporting entities had a shared mission of helping donors make wise giving decisions and both completed reports on nationally-soliciting charities using a broad set of standards that addressed governance, finances, and transparency issues.

Helping Donors Give Wisely and Verify Charity Trustworthiness

Throughout our history, the primary audience of our reporting has been the donating public. We have always encouraged contributors to check out charities before making a gift and millions have used our services to make informed giving decisions. Initially this was accomplished through individual reports that summarized basic facts about the charities’ program services, finances, finances and fundraising efforts. With the help of the charitable community, standards were developed to help assess the accountability of these organizations while also encouraging charities to meet recognized practices. In 1976, a summary list of the latest national charity evaluations was distributed which later evolved into the Wise Giving Guide magazine still produced today. In 1995, we were the first charity monitor to provide free online access to our latest reports through our website. Today, our Give.org website includes access not only to 1,500 national charity reports produced by BBB Wise Giving Alliance but over 10,000 reports on regionally soliciting charities produced by Better Business Bureaus.

Strengthening Charity Practices

One of our dual objectives has been working with charities to help improve accountability practices and strengthen public trust in organizations. To accomplish this, there is no charge to charities for the accountability assessment that we complete. Due to the rigorous nature of our reviews and the variety of issues addressed in the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability, we ask charities to provide more information than just an IRS Form 990 or what appears on the organization’s website. Charities are provided with draft versions of these assessments and we often correspond with them to recommend improvements so they can address any deficiencies identified. The resulting report, indicating if a charity meets or does not meet these standards, is then posted on Give.org.

Future of Donor Trust

In our view, strengthening donor trust in giving is not only a function of verifying charity trustworthiness (such as identifying if a charity meets BBB Charity Standards) but is also related to how comfortable a contributor is in making a secure and safe online donation transaction. To help accomplish this objective, last year we launched a new donation platform: GiveSafely.io. Through the use of blockchain technology, this platform enables contributors to donate to participating BBB Accredited Charities while having greater control and security over personal information shared with the charity. Donors can donate on GiveSafely.io via cash or cryptocurrency. BBB Wise Giving Alliance does not touch the donation or take any transaction fees. It goes directly to the charity.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Lieutenant General Robert Ruark USMC (Ret.), CEO of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (a BBB Accredited Charity), an organization that assists the families of United States Marine Corps and of United States Navy Corpsmen by providing their children with scholarships to attend colleges, universities and vocational and technical institutions.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• American Institute for Cancer Research
• Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America
• Native American Rights Fund

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

During the March 2021 meeting of the Board of Directors of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Ambassador Al Lenhardt, a long-time friend and supporter of the accountability mission of this organization, announced that he was stepping down from the Board. We very much appreciate his guidance over the years and will miss his insightful advice and deep understanding of the challenges facing the charitable sector. Prior to joining the Board, Ambassador Lenhardt served as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), President of the National Crime Prevention Council, and as Chief Operating Officer of the Council on Foundations.

In addition to the ones cited above, his career included a variety of achievements and positions. In 2009, President Obama appointed him as U.S. Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania where he served until 2013. He previously served as, and became the first African-American appointed as, an officer of the United States Congress in his capacity as the Senate’s Sergeant-at-Arms during 2001. His career in the United States Army included his service as Chief of Staff of the Director for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, Director of Personnel and Installation Management for the largest unit of the U.S. Army, head of the military police, and finally Commanding General of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

Ambassador Lenhardt’s expertise also extend to charity monitoring. Prior to 2001, he served on the Governing Board of the National Charities Information Bureau (NCIB), a nonprofit charity reporting organization that was founded in 1918 in New York City. In 2001, this organization merged with the Philanthropic Advisory Service of the national BBB office (Council of Better Business Bureaus, now known as International Association of Better Business Bureaus). The merged entity was renamed as the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. Ambassador Lenhardt joined the BBB WGA Board in its initial year and after his term expired, later re-joined the board in 2018.

In honor of his outstanding service to this organization, the BBB WGA Board passed a resolution stating that Ambassador Lenhardt will now serve as Director Emeritus to the Board of Directors effective March 11, 2021. In this capacity, he will be a nonvoting member that continues to advise the organization. BBB Wise Giving Alliance very much appreciates Ambassador Lenhardt’s leadership and looks forward to his future guidance and counsel.

Click below to listen to my two-part interview with Ambassador Lenhardt, discussing his perspectives and career.  These interviews are part of our Heart of Giving podcast, which you can subscribe to on your preferred podcast platform.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Foundation for Children in Need
• Near East Foundation
• Operation Serve

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

 

 

 

 

On March 4, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) along with 38 U.S. States and the District of Columbia announced a shutdown of a telefunding operation accused of carrying out deceptive robocalls for charity. The telefunding firm, Associated Community Services (ACS) and related defendants, allegedly made more than 1.3 billion fundraising calls to more than 67 million phone numbers. As explained in the complaint, “Defendants knowingly duped generous Americans into donating tens of millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations they claimed helped breast cancer patients, the families of children with cancer, homeless veterans, fire victims, and more. In reality, almost no money went to the charitable purposes…described to donors.” In some instances, these companies kept as much as 90 cents of every dollar solicited. In addition, the complaint filed by the cited government agencies accused ACS of harassment for calling 1.3 million phone numbers more than ten times in a single week and more than 500 phone numbers were called 5,000 or more times.

As reported by the FTC, “the defendants will be permanently prohibited from conducting or consulting on any fundraising activities and from conducting telemarketing of any kind to sell goods or services.” They were also subject to a monetary judgment of $110 million which was suspended due to an inability to pay.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance encourages donors to always check out charities with Give.org before making a giving decision.  We also offer donors the following advice on handling telephone appeals:

1. Never give your credit card number or other personal financial information to unknown callers.

2. Ask who’s calling–a professional solicitor or an employee of the charity? If the call is from a telemarketing company, ask what percentage of your gift the charity will receive.

3. Get the name straight. Many organizations raising money for the same cause have names similar enough to confuse donors, sometimes intentionally.

4. Ask for specifics about the charity, if it’s unfamiliar. The caller should be able to tell you the organization’s purpose, whether contributions to it are tax deductible, how a gift will be used and how much of it will go to the charity’s program. 

5. Resist pressure. A responsible charity respects your right to make a thoughtful decision.

6. Opt out of future calls from the soliciting charity, if you wish. The national Do Not Call Registry does not generally apply to charity calls, but you have the right to ask a telemarketer not to call again on behalf of a particular charity.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Chung Wha Hong, Executive Director of Grassroots International, a BBB Accredited Charity that supports small farmers and producers, Indigenous Peoples and women around the world to give access to the human rights to land, water and food.  The organization has particular focus on Brazil, Haiti, Mesoamerica, the Middle East and West Africa.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• National Breast Cancer Foundation
• National Federation of the Blind
• The Pink Fund

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

 

A few weeks ago, we noted that, as reported in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Blackbaud Institute released its 2020 Charitable Giving Report which estimates that overall giving rose 2 percent during 2020. We are pleased to note that yesterday, The NonProfit Times announced more good news. Their article states that the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUS – Indiana University reports that charitable giving is projected to increase 4.1 percent in 2021 and 5.7 percent in 2022. In addition, the Lilly Family School estimates that giving by individuals will increase by 6 percent in 2021 and 3.9 percent in 2022. As explained, this predicted growth rate for individual giving is impacted by “…growth in the [Standard & Poor’s 500 Index], especially giving by those with median and higher levels of income.”

Keep in mind, while all of the above statistics sound promising for philanthropy, these are estimates that have margins of error. Nevertheless, this is welcome news for both donors and charities as most soliciting organizations were apprehensive about this year in view of the challenges that COVID-19 presented for their fundraising plans.  The Give.org Donor Trust Report released in November 2020 indicated that “many charities (49.4 percent) anticipate[d] that their 2020 revenue would decrease as compared to 2019.”

Anecdotal evidence of a better than anticipated fundraising result was reported in another NonProfit Times article that discussed Salvation Army’s 2020 development efforts. It stated that Salvation Army raised $557.3 million during the 2020 holiday season which was a 27 percent increase over what was raised in 2019. While this success at a large national charity is positive, it will be helpful to know how smaller charities fared with their 2020 giving results especially since previous reports indicated some were facing financial trouble and potential shutdowns.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Rev. Steven E. Boes, President & National Executive Director, Boys Town (a BBB Accredited Charity) which seeks “to change the way America cares for children, families and communities by providing and promoting an Integrated Continuum of Care® that instills Boys Town values to strengthen body, mind and spirit.” Boys Town programs range from preventative services in the home to restrictive out-of-home placements for children with severe behavioral and mental health disorders. In between this range are school educational programs, in-home family counseling services, traditional and treatment foster care, short- and long-term family style residential programs and specialized group homes. 

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• BrightFocus Foundation
• International Animal Rescue, US
• National Osteoporosis Foundation

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance

Wise Giving Wednesday previously discussed the importance of charity transparency which has been viewed in past years as the availability of charity financial information but in more recent times is seen as charities providing disclosures about a variety of areas such as those addressed in the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.

We also strongly believe in another type of transparency that plays an important part in addressing accountability – evaluation transparency. In other words, being open about how we develop information, apply the standards and work with charities to address any issues that are identified.

Requesting Information
BBB Wise Giving Alliance requests that charities complete an online form along with additional documentation that would not typically be found on a charity’s website or in the annual financial information filed in an IRS Form 990. For example, details about board oversight of the CEO, related-party transactions, governing body meetings, in-kind contributions, appeal content, donor privacy and other matters. To learn more about the power of trust and why charities should disclose information, click here.

Applying the BBB Charity Standards
For each of the 20 BBB Charity Standards, our website provides two descriptions: (1) an explanation of the issue being addressed and (2) a detailed description of how the charity standard is implemented. It describes how the collected information would be reviewed to determine if the subject charity meets or does not meet the specified standard.

Communicating Findings and Recommendations to the Charity
BBB WGA staff contacts the subject charity, identifies any initial findings, shares recommendations on how they might be addressed, and provides a draft version of the report. The process includes back and forth communications that ultimately results in a report that is posted for free public access.  There is no charge to the charity for the accountability assessment.

Amending Findings
Charity reports with standards not met can be amended at any time based on new information or changed practices that the charity brings to BBB WGA’s attention.

While BBB WGA focuses its work on nationally soliciting charities, review of local or regional charities is available in many locations by BBBs.  These BBBs use the same Standards and a similar process to ours.

For more information about the review process, see the Accreditation Process page on Give.org and review the Explanation and Implementation boxes that appear next to each BBB Charity Standard.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video of Stephen Wells, Chief Executive Officer, Animal Legal Defense Fund (a BBB Accredited Charity) which seeks to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. Through its litigation program, the organization files lawsuits to stop the abuse of companion animals, and animals abused in industries including factory farming and the entertainment business. ALDF also works with law enforcement and prosecutors to seek maximum penalties for animal abusers.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Earthjustice
• National Foundation for Cancer Research
• National Network to End Domestic Violence

Finally, remember to let us know by going to www.give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance