What are Causeway Funds?
Causeway Funds are a new offering from Charity Navigator that allow donors to manage their personal giving in a more thoughtful way by:
Focusing on causes rather than specific nonprofits.
Easily donating to a curated group of organizations with a one click “donate to fund” feature.
Gaining insights into the impact of their recurring donations through quarterly reports and updates.
Why are Causeway Funds a good way to give?
Causeway Funds are an effective way to donate because they maximize the impact of your contributions by allowing you to disburse donations across multiple high-impact charities within one specific cause area. This approach ensures that your donation supports a curated group of organizations identified by experts for their performance, transparency, implementation of evidence-based interventions, and measurable results. Fund-based giving simplifies the donation process, saving you time and effort by eliminating the need to research and vet multiple organizations independently. By focusing on areas with the highest needs and prioritizing innovative, evidence-based interventions, fund-based giving ensures that your contributions address critical problems effectively.
How were the charities for each fund chosen?
Charities are selected based on the following criteria:
Severity of Issue: Prioritizing regions, or populations with the highest levels of need.
Proven Effectiveness: Proven track record of success with evidence-based interventions.
Commitment to Transparency: Organizations with a 4-star rating, 3-beacon completion, and a score of 95+ on Charity Navigator.
Scalability: Capacity to scale and replicate successful models.
Evidence-based Approaches: Use of strategies proven to be impactful and cost-effective.
How will my gift be distributed?
Our Cause Funds are managed by Charity Navigator analysts to include highly efficient and effective charities. The selected organizations represent a range of strategies that comprehensively address the specific cause, ranging from direct services and regional coalitions to national policy reform. We allocate gifts to maximize their effectiveness, meaning not every charity within a fund will receive the same percentage of the overall donation. Our analysts review and adjust these allocations quarterly, ensuring that the most highly rated and impactful organizations receive your support.
What is the $2.99 fee for? Waived in the near term.
The $2.99 curation fee covers the time and expertise our analysts spend curating the list of charities to include in each fund and generating the quarterly reports specific to our funds. As Charity Navigator is a nonprofit organization too, this fee is truly just to cover the costs of providing this service.
Are my donations to a Causeway Fund tax deductible?
Causeway funds are made up of a group of individual charities rated by Charity Navigator, and those are charities are all registered with the IRS under tax code 501(c)(3), which makes donations to them tax deductible.
Can I donate to the Causeway Fund by check?
Causeway donations are only available online. Please visit our Cause-based Giving page to select a fund and make your donation.