127. How I Screen Charities Before I Donate

Ever wonder how to separate the charities genuinely driving impact from those just paying lip service? In this candid episode, you'll get the inside scoop on a personal vetting process for ensuring your donations create real positive change.

You'll gain an insider's perspective on:

• Cutting Through the Fluff: Learn a litmus test for identifying charities with laser-focused, measurable missions (and calling out the vague, meaningless ones). You'll discover how to spot organizations articulating exactly what they aim to achieve and how.
• Examining the Origins: Dive into why scrutinizing a charity's founders and leadership is crucial for you. You'll gain insights into sniffing out misaligned values from the get-go based on an organization's origin story and current team.
• Reading Between the Financial Lines: Annual reports revealed! Walk through how to analyze where a charity's money comes from, what they prioritize spending on, and what to make of those much-debated overhead costs.
• The "Get to Know You" Tactic: Hear a unique approach of strategically deploying small donations to get on charities' mailing lists and volunteer - so you can truly understand their operations.
• The Sooner the Better: Learn why to start giving somewhere now while refining your long-term charitable strategy, as every dollar and day counts.

By the end of this episode, you'll be equipped with a framework for confidently vetting charities and ensuring your donations translate into real-world impact aligned with your values.

Links from today’s episode:

Americans know very little about charities, new poll finds April 2023

https://apnews.com/article/nonprofits-poll-philanthropy-626acbb7a3f140068d4c814cfeae23ab 

ICYMI another episode you might enjoy:

Episode#13 Why We Shouldn’t Worry About a Charity’s Admin Expenses (recorded before the 2024 rebranding of this show)

Connect With Genet “GG” Gimja:

Website https://www.progressivepockets.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/prgrssvpckts 

Work With Me:

Email progressivepockets@gmail.com for brand partnerships, business inquiries, and speaking engagements.








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Transcript

Welcome to Progressive Pockets! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja. This is a show with gentle, practical suggestions on how to line up our personal values and our money. When we think about the things that keep us up at night. Whether that’s climate change, or homelessness, or the systematic oppression of our communities, we usually talk about how we can claim our power when we vote. Some of us might protest, or organize ourselves in other ways. But what about….our money?

Are there ways that we can use our money in line with some of our other values? That’s what this podcast is about. You can send in your letters with whatever you’ve been thinking about, and then I’ll do some research, talk to experts, and come back with some thoughts. Hopefully you’ll come across some helpful suggestions, you might laugh, you might think differently than you did before, either way, thank you for being here.

I was reading the results from a big study that Indiana University did across the US and one of their findings was that most Americans feel like they really don’t know much at all about philanthropy. In the study ⅔ of Americans said they are “novices.”

And I have heard from some of my listeners that they don’t feel so confident when it comes to knowing where to donate.

So today’s episode is about how I screen charities before I donate. I have a 360 degree relationship with charities. I have benefited from the services of some charities, I have worked for charities on a paid and unpaid basis. I have studied charities in my graduate program. I have advised charities as an external consultant. And I have donated for decades, to lots of charities. I recently spoke at a conference for people who are running amazing charities around the world.

So I am very excited to talk to you today about my process, that I’ve created over the years which helps me vet the charities that I want to donate to.

So I’m talking specifically about the point at which I’ve already decided on which cause I want to focus my giving on. The point at which I have already identified a potential charity I might want to donate to, and I’m trying to vet them before I decide to start donating towards their work. This is how I do my screening process.

You might be thinking that I would start with one of those charity evaluation websites, and it might surprise you that I don’t start there. You may have heard of some of them like Charity Navigator or GiveWell or Guidestar. I don’t use them because they don’t have the information that I’m looking for when I’m evaluating a charity.

I want to know what a charity’s mission is, and how clearly they have articulated exactly what they are trying to do. So it can’t be something vague like “Ensuring that the health of girls around the world is cared for and that they have the essentials needed to thrive.” That is a quote from a website I was looking at last summer. I just don’t know what they mean by that. When they say girls around the world, it just sounds so vague I don’t know where they mean. When they say making sure girls’ health is cared for, I also don’t know what they mean. Mental health? Physical health? If they do mean physical health, what do they mean?

Contrast that to the mission statement from another organization, this one is called Partners in Health. This is their mission statement:

Our mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. By establishing long-term relationships with sister organizations based in settings of poverty, Partners In Health strives to achieve two overarching goals: to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair.

We draw on the resources of the world’s leading medical and academic institutions and on the lived experience of the world’s poorest and sickest communities. At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone.

When our patients are ill and have no access to care, our team of health professionals, scholars, and activists will do whatever it takes to make them well—just as we would do if a member of our own families or we ourselves were ill.

I like this because they are explaining how they will know if they are successful- if they are the preferential option for the poor. They are explaining how they operate- as partners to sister organizations that are based in the communities they are serving.

And then they clearly lay out which areas they are operating in. Which diseases they are curing. For example, their work within the Navajo Nation, which is spread across parts of New Mexico, Arizona, up to Utah. They are focused on diabetes, high blood pressure, prenatal care, and cancer care. They are able to articulate how they do the work- by training local nursing assistants, they’re also working with the local grocery stores. It’s very clear.

So I like to understand exactly what their goal is. Not like the first example I shared which was vague and talking about girl’s health in general but never got more specific than that. I want to know specifics, like we are focusing on nutritionally driven health in the Navajo Nation. And, the way we do that is in this specific way- we partner with local organizations, we train nurse assistants, we work with the grocery stores.

So that’s the first thing for me, a very clear and defined focus.

The second thing I’m usually looking at is the leadership and the staff, if that info is public. Who are the founders? And why did they start this work? Even if the founders have moved on or passed on, often the DNA is embedded and very very difficult to change. So if the origin story for this group is based on values that I don’t share, I’m going to move on and not select that charity to put money into. I like to look at the current leadership to see if there’s some diversity across age, gender, race, ethnicity, professional backgrounds, educational backgrounds, sometimes those bits of information are available and I love to see.

And then this is where I will usually look at the annual report. I love reading those. This is where I start to learn more about their successes, their plans and finally now I get into the numbers. I want to know what their budget is and where does it come from- what portion of their money comes from government funding or foundations or individual givers like me, or other sources. I like to know this because if I see, for example, that a big chunk of their money comes from foundations, well then I make a note to look into those foundations because they likely have some say over the charity’s programming. And I want to do a vibe check on the foundation to make sure we’re at least somewhat sharing some values.

I will usually look to see the breakdown in their budget to see what portion goes to each program and then I can understand what do they spend most of their time on. Sometimes organizations will love to make the marketing about a program that’s flashy but doesn’t really represent the bread and butter, the main program that the organization is focused on. So these are the things I’m looking at in the annual report.

What you may have noticed is that I do not focus on the portion of their money that goes into overhead or administrative expenses versus program expenses. For what it’s worth, I also don’t give restricted donations. If a charity wants to use my money for their paying their rent, or for advertising the work they’re doing to get other funders, or salaries, that is OK with me. Here’s why: it takes overhead in order to get the work done. If you think about Partners in Health, for example, that’s the charity I was reading the mission statement of and the Navajo Nation program earlier, if you think about Partners in Health, they need office space in each of the areas where they operate. They need to pay that rent. They need to buy printers and toner and office supplies. They need to pay someone to sit down and write that annual report which is how they know they’re doing and how they attract other funders. They need to pay someone to figure out who they should partner with in the local community so that the solutions are actually locally appropriate. For example, paying someone to drive around to the grocery stores to understand and improve the access to fresh healthy foods.

These are all overhead costs and I am OK paying them. If you are interested, you can check out episode 13 which is all about admin expenses and how to think about them. It was recorded before this show was renamed Progressive Pockets, so don’t be alarmed by that LOL.

So that’s what I look for when I am screening a charity. If I’m still not sure, or want to learn more about a charity, another thing I do is to donate a small amount of money, less than five hundred bucks and I do that because then I’m on their mailing list, I get to learn more about them over time. Volunteering with an organization is another great way to get to know them better. Having some skin in the game helps me to continue to come to a conclusion about a charity. Does anyone else do that? Drop me a note if you’ve ever tried this strategy. It’s a great way to avoid analysis paralysis.

You can also set up monthly donations while you continue to look for something that fits what you’re wanting. You don’t have to wait. Time is passing and people need help. I will always advocate that you start giving SOMEWHERE now while you refine your search for the place that really fits your values.

So to recap, here’s how I screen charities:

1. I look to see how they describe what they’re trying to do. Are they specific? What exactly are they trying to get done? Where exactly are they operating? How do they do it? Do they partner with local organizations? Do they do it all themselves?
2. I look to see who is doing the work. Who are the founders, who is on their leadership and their staff. Is there diversity? Are people from the community they are serving actually involved in making the decisions about what is needed and how the work is done?
3. I look at the annual report and any other financial information that they have posted. I want to know their overall budget and where the money comes from. If a lot of the money comes from a foundation, I make a note to check on the foundation. I look at the breakdown of how their budget is allocated across programs so I can see if there is one or two programs that are really the focus of the organization. I don’t focus on overhead or administration expenses because I believe that all organizations for profit or nonprofit, all need overhead to function properly.

Do you have any other questions about how to screen a charity before you donate? Drop me a note anytime, the email address is progressive pockets at gmail dot com. Or maybe you have a suggestion for another episode, that’s where a lot of these ideas come from. From you. So get in touch any time.

Let’s end with a quote…this one comes from Chef José Andrés.

“We all are Citizens of the World. What’s good for you, must be good for all. If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger... you will find who you are.” Let’s talk again soon!