Format: Article

As we approach Mother’s Day this coming Sunday, many mothers will receive flowers, cards, gifts, dinner invitations and other expressions of love from their family members. It’s a time to celebrate and show appreciation. Mom always knows best and through her nurturing and care, she taught many of us about the importance of helping others, especially those in need. So as we seek to thank mom on this special day, also consider the option of contributing to charity to honor her and demonstrate that her lessons on philanthropy were heartfelt.

Below are several BBB Accredited Charities (i.e., meets the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability) that reference mother in their names:

Every Mother Counts (a BBB Accredited Charity) that works to inform, engage, and mobilize audiences to take actions and raise funds that support maternal health programs around the world. The organization reports that since 2010 it has sought to raise public awareness of maternal health through storytelling, filmmaking and research. It also invests in community-based programs seeking to improve quality maternity care. Several years ago, the organization introduced the orange rose as a symbol of maternal health and launched its first orange rose campaign.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (a BBB Accredited Charity) works to protect families from drunk driving and underage drinking. The organization reports that the Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving aims to end this danger on Americas roads, and that PowerTalk 21 is a national day for parents to talk with their kids about alcohol. Bereaved families and injured survivors can call MADD’s 24-hour victim help line to reach a victim advocate. 

mothers2mother International (a BBB Accredited Charity) works with governments, local partners and communities to provide comprehensive support to HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers in sub-Saharan Africa. The organization’s Mentor Mother program trains and employs HIV-positive mothers as frontline healthcare workers to help women access essential services and medical care by promoting HIV counseling, testing, and reducing the stigma about HIV through peer support.

There are many other charitable organizations engaged in addressing issues of concern impacting mothers. We encourage you to consider them as well and, as always, remind donors to seek out charities that 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 Jeff Eastman, Chief Executive President, Remote Area Medical (a BBB Accredited Charity) which  operates mobile medical clinics throughout the world, with the majority occurring in the United States. At the organization’s mobile medical clinics, licensed volunteer practitioners treat patients by providing dental, vision, and medical services. RAM operates one to five-day clinics, with the majority being two-day clinics. In 2017, the organization reports that it delivered $13,000,000 in free care to more than 41,000 individuals.

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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:

• Fund for Animals
• Grassroots International
• National Space Society

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

 

As reported first by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker and then by other media sources including the Associated Press, a scandal has emerged at MIT and other universities regarding previous donations made to these institutions by Jeffrey Epstein who recently killed himself in jail while waiting for trial on sexual abuse charges. In another circumstance, the New York Times reports that a number of museums and other charities are considering severing their donation ties with a family that owns a pharmaceutical company involved with the Opioid crisis. While we are not commenting on these specific donation circumstances, this situation has brought a spotlight on the importance for charities to adopt, follow and monitor a gift acceptance policy.

It is certainly difficult to say “no” to a donor who wants to make a large donation to a charity but this problem is not new to philanthropy. There are cases where this might come up, for example:

• a donor may want to restrict the contribution for a purpose that falls outside the mission scope of the organization (e.g., a disaster relief charity receives a gift to address civil rights issues),
• the restriction might change the direction of the organization in a manner that its board of directors would not deem appropriate (e.g., a modern art museum receives a gift to open a classical art exhibit),
• a donor may be involved in a current and/or previous scandal that might appear to tarnish the charity’s reputation if it accepted the gift, or
• an institutional donor may be engaged in activities that are the antithesis of what the charity seeks to accomplish (e.g., an animal protection group accepting a gift from a slaughterhouse.)

Among other things, a gift acceptance policy can identify the types of funding the charity will accept, the intended transparency or privacy of such gifts, and the rights of donors to have access to certain charity information.

Ideally, the time to prepare and officially adopt a gift acceptance policy that helps the charity face such challenges is before these questions emerge. In turn, charities do not have to start from scratch.  There are a number of online resources that can help including, but not limited to, the National Council of Nonprofits and the Nonprofit Risk Management Center.

While the adoption of a policy will help a charity avoid a gift acceptance dilemma it will need to be periodically revised and updated in order to reflect changing circumstances at the charity as well as within the community it serves.

Even the best policy, however, will not protect a charity from controversy if there is no procedure in place to both monitor and ensure compliance with the gift acceptance policy. This is an ongoing responsibility of both the board and staff of the charity as they carry out their respective roles.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video of Carolyn Aldigé, Founder and CEO, Prevent Cancer Foundation (a BBB Accredited Charity) which provides support for cancer research, education, community outreach, and advocacy. The organization reports that it provides funding for cancer prevention research and training to scientists across the country. PCFs public education program applies this scientific knowledge to inform the public about ways they can reduce their cancer risks. The organization reaches the public through exhibits, distribution of materials, its relationship with the media, and through educational conferences for professionals in the cancer field.

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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:

• CurePSP
• Lymphoma Research Foundation
• Youth for Christ USA

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

The BBB Standards for Charity Accountability include a preamble explaining that, in addition to the specific areas addressed by the standards, charitable organizations are encouraged to adopt other management practices to further charitable accountability. Among these practices is initiating “…a policy promoting pluralism and diversity within the organization’s board, staff, and constituencies. While organizations vary widely in their ability to demonstrate pluralism and diversity, every organization should establish a policy, consistent with its mission statement, that fosters such inclusiveness.”

Yesterday, BBB Wise Giving Alliance hosted a webinar on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, exploring  what it means to look at equity and inclusion for charities, how to frame and think about these issues, and how to move a charity forward in its equity and inclusion journey.

The webinar panel was moderated by BBB WGA Board Member, Pratichi Shah, the founder and CEO of Flourish Talent Management Solutions. Panelists included:, Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, co-director of the Building Movement Project, Lupita Gonzalez, founder and CEO of The Thrive Advisory and Gerald Johnson, Chief Diversity Officer of American Heart Association. Sean Thomas-Breitfeld addressed issues like the impact of race on career advancement, systematic barriers working against advancement for people of color, and the racial leadership and constituent gap in the nonprofit sector. As advised by Lupita Gonzales, the first step is to identify an organization’s position in the equity and inclusion spectrum, to then engage in an authentic journey towards equity. Part of that journey can include disarming status-quo language, for instance, by referring to “minorities” as the “global majority,” to empower rather than diminish. Sean Thomas-Breitfeld also spoke to the importance of developing clear mission-based guidance to then transform how the organization looks at equity and inclusion both as a personnel issue and also as broader outlook that informs the organization’s actions. Gerald Johnson shared the example of how American Heart Association has incorporated the matter of equity into both their internal talent systems and how they deliver programs.

While there is much to be done on the issue of diversity, equity and inclusion, deliberately internalizing equity as a matter of mission and practice can help charities achieve greater results.

A recording of excerpts of this webinar will be available at a later date. In the meantime, if you are interested in registering for follow-up discussions on these issues that will involve small groups of people, please send an email to BBB WGA’s Julie Rizzo at jizzo@give.org.

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Video of the Week

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance is proud of our network of trusted, BBB Accredited charities, which are rising to the challenge of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in innovative ways to safely serve us all. In this week’s video highlight, Art Taylor is joined by Judith Cruz, President & CEO of the Treasure Coast Food Bank (a BBB Accredited Charity) located in Fort Pierce, Florida, to talk about how her organization is facing the challenge.

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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:

• First Nations Development Institute
• Green Beret Foundation
• HealthWell 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

 

 

 

When a donor reviews a charity’s website, what should they seek to find? What elements are important to examine? We often hear that a charity’s website is the most likely place a potential contributor goes to find out more about a charity. While that makes sense given that virtually all charities have an online presence, a website can sometimes be a bit overwhelming given the number of potential pages and choices once you land on the homepage. In this spirit, we offer some basic advice and reference how they relate to the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.

Website Transparency: Basic facts about a charity’s programs, finances and governance should be easily accessible. That’s why BBB Charity Standard 17 calls for charity websites that solicit for contributions (and almost all of them welcome gifts) to include the same type of information that you would find in an annual report. Specifically, (a) a statement about the charity’s mission, (b) a summary of the charity’s activities in the past year, (b) a board roster with officers specified, (c) a financial information covering the past years’ total income, program expenses, fundraising expenses, administrative expenses and ending net assets. In addition, the website should provide electronic access to the latest IRS Form 990. Some organizations place all of this information in an item that is labeled as their annual report, others might provide an annual report page on the website that includes links to all of these elements.  The bottom line is that the donor should not have to search and find these basic facts, a transparent charity website should already do that for you by compiling these details in one accessible place.

Donor Privacy: These days donors are increasingly concerned about their privacy and want to know how their personal information is being used by the charity. BBB Charity Standard 18 calls for all charity websites to provide a clear and prominent policy on their website that includes the following fundamental elements: (a) What information is being collected about me and how will it be used, (b) how can I contact the charity to review this information and request corrections, (c) how do I inform the charity that I do not want this information shared with other organizations, and (d) what security measures are in place to protect this this personal information? While most charities already include such a policy on their websites, from time to time we find those where it is completely absent or is missing one or more of the above elements.

Cause-Related Marketing Disclosures: If a charity’s website includes an offer from a business that is selling consumer items with the announcement that the purchase will benefit the charity, BBB Charity Standard 19 calls for the promotion to include a specified disclosure. It should identify that actual or anticipation amount of the purchase price that will benefit the charity and, if applicable, the duration of the campaign and any maximum or guaranteed minimum contribution the charity will receive.

While a charity’s website will probably include much more than the above, BBB Wise Giving Alliance believes these disclosures will help provide a solid start in helping to encourage donor trust and confidence.

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Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Sebastian Africano, Executive Director of Trees, Water & People (a BBB Accredited Charity) a conservation organization that works with Native American and Central American communities to install solar air furnaces, plant trees for reforestation, provide green job training and promote healthy diets.  

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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:

• Disabled Veterans National Foundation
• Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation
• Salvadoran American Humanitarian 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

Governance & Oversight – Board Meetings

The board of directors is pivotal in providing guidance and oversight to a charity and ensuring it is fulfilling its mission. Holding regular meetings to review and discuss important organization decisions, such as budgets, program updates and fundraising efforts, is a process that increases the likelihood that this guidance occurs. That is why – in order to be a BBB Accredited Charity (i.e., meeting all 20 standards) – the third standard in the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability addresses this issue. We ask a charity to bring together its board of directors at least three times a year with at least 50% average attendance for the meetings held.

The buck stops with the governing board — and in some the ways the board serves as the “stand-in” for donors by ensuring that the organization is appropriately carrying out its announced mission in the best way possible. This can’t be done without regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year.

We believe that face-to-face participation is key to carrying out proper oversight responsibilities, however, a telephone conference can substitute for one of those three meetings as long as official business is conducted and minutes are taken. On occasion, for some charities, conflicting schedules and geographical barriers may create challenges to holding in-person meetings with the desired frequency. For example, a charity focused on international issues may have board members located in other countries. In such cases, videoconferences can count as face-to-face meetings as long as video participants can see each other during the meeting.

This evidence of engaged and involved decision-makers is a fundamental verification of effective governance. A charity can have a board roster that includes some of the most impressive and respected individuals known but unless that leadership is brought together on a regular basis, the roster of governing board members serves as letterhead leadership that provides a false sense of security for donors.

Take a look at our national charity reports to see if your charity of choice meets this important standard.

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

Next Tuesday, November 27^th, is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. and is the seventh anniversary of #GivingTuesday – the designated day to donate to charities. Since its founding by the 92^nd Street Y (a BBB Accredited Charity), this event has grown into a movement that takes place in many countries around the globe. In 2017, they reported that more than $300 million was cumulatively raised online in 150 countries.

As donors participate in #GivingTuesday activities, BBB Wise Giving Alliance encourages individuals to check out charities at Give.org to verify if they meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability (i.e., a BBB Accredited Charity.) We also recommend that donors consider the following public  misconceptions that were identified in the recently released, Give.org Donor Trust Report, an in-depth look into the State of Trust in the charitable sector. This was done through an online survey of a panel of 2,100 adults (18 and above) across the United States.

1.  Don’t assume that charity size and regional scope signal trustworthiness. 67 percent of survey respondents said they trust local charities more than national and 62% trust small organizations more than large ones. However, in BBB WGA’s experience, charities of all sizes and scope demonstrate good and bad accountability practices.

2.  Don’t assume verifying trust is easy. The Donor Trust survey results showed that younger generations are more likely than older donors to believe that verifying trust is easy and can be accomplished by examining the charity’s appeal alone. As demonstrated by evaluative reports on charities produced by BBB WGA and BBBs, verifying charity trustworthiness is more complex and involves a review of such issues as charity governance, finances, results reporting, and solicitation accuracy.

3.  Don’t rely on stories and passion alone in assessing trust. The survey results also indicate that 46% of Generation Z (ages 18 and 19) and 32% of Millennials (ages 20-36) tend to attribute trust to those organizations that demonstrate more apparent passion and sincerity in the appeal. In BBB WGA’s view, such indicators are not a reliable means to verify trust and could lead younger donors vulnerable to questionable solicitations.

4.  Don’t focus excessively on financial ratios. While financial ratios are an important part of a charity’s overall picture, excessive focus on low overhead spending can be misguided and potentially harmful to an organization’s capacity for service. Consider a more comprehensive view of a charity’s activities in order to make a wise giving decision.

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Video of the Week

We are pleased to provide a video of the week that features interviews with BBB WGA staff members discussing donor misconceptions featured in the Give.org Donor Trust Report

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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:

• Children of the Nations
• Global Fund for Women
• National Alliance to End Homelessness

Finally, remember to let us know by going to 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