Lack of Watchdog Rating a Worry for Small Charities

Amid the debate over what measurements Charity Navigator uses to rate nonprofit groups, some smaller charities are raising concerns not over how watchdogs make their assessments but whom they assess, according to The Seattle Times.

Charity Navigator does not consider organizations with annual revenue of less than $1-million and has reviewed only about 7,000 of the country’s 1.5-million-plus registered nonprofits. Small Seattle-area charities tell the Times that the lack of a watchdog’s imprimatur can turn off donors who increasingly give online and do research into how potential recipients use their dollars.

Charity Navigator said it lacks the resources to vet the vast majority of charities and that most accountability and transparency issues occur among larger organizations. Rita Azizi Egrari of the Mona Foundation, a Kirkland, Wash., group that supports education projects in developing countries, suggested the watchdog site state on its home page that it does not review small charities so donors don’t think a group lacks credibility because it has not been rated.