Why don't you rate the Salvation Army?
The Salvation Army is exempt under Internal Revenue Code from filing Form 990 as a "church or convention or association of churches." As a result, we lack sufficient data to evaluate them under the Accountability & Finance beacon. It would be up to the Salvation Army to submit data to be rated on any of the other three beacons.
How can I request that Charity Navigator evaluate a specific charity?
Charity Navigator currently evaluates more than 190,000 charitable organizations, making us America's largest charity evaluator. In fact, the ones we evaluate account for roughly 40% of the donations in America (excluding donations to houses of worship).
Even if we don’t rate a charity, you can still find basic information about it on its listing on our site. That page will also include a link to the steps you can follow to conduct your own due diligence.
We also encourage you to urge any charity you are interested in but who is not currently rated, to begin the process with us by creating an online portal account and submit information to us.
Which charities do you evaluate?
Visit this Methodology section for [specific information about the charities we evaluate.
What does it mean that the charity I am reviewing is not rated?
If we do not rate a specific charity, then it simply means that either the organization doesn't meet our criteria or our program team hasn't been able to analyze that charity yet.
Given the size of our database and the criteria we use to determine eligibility, we are confident that we presently report on the vast majority of charities which actively solicit and receive donations from generous Americans. In fact, the ones we evaluate account for roughly 40% of the donations in America (excluding donations to houses of worship). But with approximately 1.7 million public charities in this country, there are many that we have yet to rate.
In the meantime, you will find that every nonprofit does have a page of basic information on our site, even if we haven't yet rated it. And, if we do not rate a charity that is of interest to you, then we suggest you follow the steps outlined in the article, Evaluating Charities Not Currently Rated by Charity Navigator, to make an informed decision about that charity.
How to report misconduct by a charity?
If you suspect that a charity is engaged in unethical or unlawful activity, then we encourage you to report that information to the government authorities that are responsible for regulating nonprofits.
At the federal level, nonprofit regulation resides in the hands of the IRS. The IRS website offers instructions for filing a complaint about a nonprofit by either:
(1) submitting your concerns in writing by email (eoclass@irs.gov) or by regular mail (IRS EO Classification, Mail Code 4910, 1100 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75242)
(2) or by completing Form 13909, the Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form.
In most states, nonprofit regulation is the responsibility of the Attorney General or the Secretary of State. The National Association of State Charity Officials’ website provides links to many of the state offices that regulate charities.
Updated over a week ago