How The Chronicle Compiled Its Survey of America’s Biggest Charities

The Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s annual Philanthropy 400 list, now in its 19th year, ranks charities by their ability to attract donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations.

Charities may count cash and other gifts — such as stock, real estate, food, medicine, and art — in calculating how much they raise from private sources; organizations may not include government support.

The rankings are determined largely by data gathered from each charity’s Form 990, the informational tax return that charities must file annually with the Internal Revenue Service. Additional data were found in annual reports, financial statements, and a Chronicle questionnaire based on the Form 990.

The Chronicle seeks to include consolidated data for organizations that have affiliates, and in many cases, such data come from audited financial statements. Some religious groups, which do not have to disclose their finances publicly, are ranked because they provided their data to The Chronicle.

Donations raised in the fiscal year that ended in 2008, or in 2009 for organizations with fiscal years ending in January, February, or March, form the basis for the rankings.

Twenty-seven organizations are included based on data for the 2007 fiscal year because they said they could not provide more-recent information by last week. Many of those organizations were granted an extension by the IRS of the deadline by which they need to file their Form 990.

Government Aid

Some charities that have big budgets do not appear on the Philanthropy 400 list because they get most of their money from government or contracts and fees, not from private sources. Nor are donations raised overseas counted, even though some organizations have international affiliates.

The Chronicle used information collected on an annual survey of colleges and universities by the Council for Aid to Education, in New York, to rank higher-education institutions in the Philanthropy 400.

The 990 allows an organization to include pledges in the amount of money it received from private sources, but the council’s survey counts only money in hand at the end of the institution’s financial year.

Interpreting the Data

The Chronicle was not able to consider three organizations that appear to be eligible for inclusion on the Philanthropy 400 because they did not provide their latest financial data.

Two of these groups — Amnesty International USA, in New York, and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, in Virginia — each said their 2008 tax return was not yet complete and they had sought an extension from the IRS. Camp Fire USA, in Kansas City, Mo., did not disclose consolidated financial information from its affiliates. Camp Fire provided its Form 990, but that return represents only a small portion of what that charity raises.

Amnesty raised nearly $45-million in 2007, and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation raised about $40-million in 2007. (Colonial Williamsburg discloses its 2008 consolidated financial information on its Web site, but while its total revenue in 2008 was about $210-million, it is unclear what part of that represents private donations.) Camp Fire raised nearly $42-million as a consolidated system in 2006.

Money raised from private sources is the key piece of information reported in the Philanthropy 400, but the survey also gathered data on charities’ expenses, such as fund-raising and program costs. Those figures are available on The Chronicle’s Web site.

Comparing such figures should be done with care, since those figures can differ based on a charity’s mission, management, and accounting methods. Comparing a group that makes grants to other charities with another that runs programs, for example, may be unfair.

A searchable database of all the charities on the Philanthropy 400, their private support, and other key data is online at http://philanthropy.com/stats/philanthropy400. The Chronicle strives to include all charities that might be eligible for the Philanthropy 400. To submit a nonprofit group that should be included in next year’s survey, please send an e-mail message to survey@philanthropy.com.

The Philanthropy 400 was compiled by Noelle Barton and Candie Jones, with assistance from Caroline Bermudez, Amy Combs, Mike Emery, Dana Sobyra, Christopher Thompson, and Joan Waynick.