Arlington, VA  (May 21, 2025) – BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB's Give.org), the standards-based charity evaluator, announced the launch of a project to revise its BBB Standards for Charitable Accountability.

The Standards revision will be guided by a 20-member Advisory Committee including leaders from well-known charities: Alzheimer’s Association, American Red Cross, Disabled American Veterans, GivingTuesday, Humane World for Animals, KABOOM!, Native American Rights Fund, The Salvation Army, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other experts in philanthropy.  

BBB's Give.org seeks to continue to address its comprehensive approach to fundamental areas such as charity board oversight, finances, appeal accuracy and transparency while also addressing emerging issues facing the charitable sector. “Over the past twenty years, the BBB Charity Standards provided guidance to strengthen trust in the charitable sector and served as a valuable assessment tool to help donors make informed giving decisions,” said BBB Wise Giving Alliance President & CEO, Bennett Weiner, “we look forward to enhancing and revising these efforts at a time when our public survey research has shown that trust has grown in importance.”

Lysa Ratliff, CEO, KABOOM! which addresses access to quality places for children to play, serves as Co-chair of the Standards Revision Advisory Committee. “I am honored to help lead this Committee as its seeks to address emerging matters facing the charitable sector, particularly as charities face federal funding cuts and the challenges of new technologies. Both charities and donors stand to benefit from improved accountability guidance.”

Jon Pratt, former CEO of Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, current member of BBB's Give.org Board of Directors, and Co-chair of the Standards Advisory Committee, notes that “I believe my experience in running the largest state association of nonprofits in the U.S. will help provide this advisory group with an improved understanding of the accountability challenges faced by smaller charities and will seek to ensure that this revised guidelines respect the needs of charities of all sizes.”

BBB's Give.org also welcomes donors, charities and others to offer comments on the current BBB Charity Standards and/or recommendations on emerging areas of concern about charity accountability by visiting this link.

ABOUT BBB WISE GIVING ALLIANCE: BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB’s Give.org) is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of nationally soliciting charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 holistic standards that address charity governance, results reporting, finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. National charity reports are produced by BBB’s Give.org and local charity reports are produced by local Better Business Bureaus – all reports are available for free at Give.org.

ABOUT BBB: The Better Business Bureau has empowered people to find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust for over 110 years. In 2024, people turned to BBB more than 220 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.5 million businesses available for free at BBB.org. The International Association of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States and Canada.