Interested in donating money to an environmental charity, but don’t know which one to pick? Here is a list of the top ten green charities, ranked on how effectively they apply your money to their conservation efforts.
Which Environmental Charity Should I Choose?
If you are confused about which environmental group would put your money to the best use, that’s understandable. How do you if your donation is actually being spent on conservation? What if most of your gift is consumed supporting the sometimes monstrous infrastructure of a large, inefficient organization? Did you know that, for some charities, much of the money donated is spent on expenses associated with lobbying US government officials? Good news; there is an easy-to-use, online resource designed specifically to help you evaluate charities.
What Is Charity Navigator?
Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator is one of the largest, and most-popular, web-based evaluators of aid organizations. They have a team of professional analysts who examine the financial documents of many non-profits and then, with that knowledge, create an unbiased, objective rating system that, in essence, gives the public financial snap shots of over 5,000 global and regional charities.
How Charity Navigator Works
Charity Navigator has an intricate rating system that is rather involved. But at its most general level, evaluations are based on the financial information that each charity provides in its tax returns. This info is used to analyze each organization’s financial performance and then compare it to the performances of other similar charities. Bottom line, Charity Navigator evaluates how efficiently charities are currently using their support, and to what extent they are growing their programs and services over time.
Two of the simplest ratings that site visitors can use to assess organizations are:
- Stars: Four stars is the highest ranking, and indicates that the charity exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities within its cause.
- Overall Score: A numerical score is also calculated for each charity. This is helpful when you want to compare charities that have been awarded the same number of stars.
Top Ten Conservation / Environmental Charities
The following is a list of four-star environmental charities that currently rate in Charity Navigator's top ten. This ranking is subject to change as charities are reevaluated in light of new financial information.
- Conservation International; Tagline: Protecting life on Earth; Rating: 68.48
- Amazon Conservation Association; Tagline: Conserving the biological diversity of the Amazon Basin; Rating: 66.69
- Acterra; Tagline: Action for a sustainable earth; Rating: 66.46
- Keep America Beautiful; Tagline: Do something beautiful; Rating: 66.00
- World Wildlife Fund; Tagline: Protecting the future; Rating: 65.64
- The Nature Conservancy; Tagline: Protecting nature. Preserving life; Rating: 65.45
- The Conservation Foundation; Tagline: We save land. We save rivers; Rating: 63.38
- EcoLogic Development Fund; Tagline: Advancing the conservation of threatened ecosystems; Rating: 63.27
- The Rainforest Alliance; Tagline: Innovative solutions for global conservation; Rating: 61.80
- Global Green USA; Tagline: Fostering a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future; Rating: 61.58
What about Greenpeace and Sierra Club?
Charity Navigator doesn’t evaluate these, and other 501(c)(4) organizations, because these charities are allowed to spend a substantial portion of their revenue lobbying the US government.
What about Local Charities?
The above list represents the top ten national and global conservation charities, as evaluated by Charity Navigator. There are also many highly-rated regional and local charities that you can use the site to evaluate and compare.
