About Us
Charity Navigator helps millions of people take action and support the causes they care about by connecting them to the best charities that align with their passions and values.
Our mission is to make impactful giving easier for all
Since 2001, we’ve empowered millions of donors by providing free access to data, tools and resources to guide philanthropic decision-making.
With more than 225,000 charities rated, our comprehensive ratings shine a light on the cost-effectiveness and overall health of a charity’s programs, including measures of stability, efficiency and sustainability. The metrics inform donors of not just where their dollars are going but what their dollars are doing.
Like the organizations we rate, we’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, too. We don’t charge the charities we evaluate, ensuring our ratings remain objective. In turn, we depend on the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations to fund our programs.
Download our Five-Year Strategic Plan
Our Values
Leadership
Collaboration
Equity
We stand for equity, diversity and inclusion within our organization and through our evaluations and guidance.
Fairness
Usefulness
We provide fair, transparent evaluations and valuable tools to enable a diverse set of donors to find and support an ever-greater number of nonprofits they can trust.
Explore Our History
Use this interactive timeline to learn more about how Charity Navigator started and the progress we’ve made since. Simply click the arrow below to get started.
Pat and Marion Dugan envision an unbiased and transparent source of information that would assist givers from every state, and with every type of charitable interest, in finding a charity to support.
Charity Navigator launches as a new, free service cataloging the financial health of over eleven hundred charities. Upon launch, Charity Navigator becomes the largest independent charity evaluating service in the world.
To help donors avoid becoming victims of mailing-list appeals, Charity Navigator begins to assess each charity’s commitment to keeping donors’ personal information confidential.
Charity Navigator partners with Network for Good to add the ability for donors to give through its website. Twenty thousand donors take advantage of this tool during the course of the year, giving more than $2.6 million to more than 2,200 of the charities rated by Charity Navigator.
Charity Navigator makes plans to use the additional data provided in the newly designed IRS Form 990 to expand its rating system. This is the first major redesign of the document since 1979.
Charity Navigator rates 5,000 charities for the first time.
After collecting data for more than a year, Charity Navigator launches an expanded, two-dimensional rating system that includes a measurement of each charity’s Accountability & Transparency.
The Board and staff of Charity Navigator ring the New York Stock Exchange Opening Bell.
Charity Navigator launches its enhanced Financial Health rating methodology to capture an organization’s long-term capacity and health.
Charity Navigator launches the Advisory System designed to protect donors from charity scams and alleged misconduct by providing unbiased and objective information that may inform their giving decisions.
With Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, and the earthquakes in Mexico, Charity Navigator experiences it’s third largest period of giving to date, behind December 30 and 31 of 2016.
Partnering with sector leaders GuideStar, Classy, and GlobalGiving, Charity Navigator launches impact statements on profiles of over 2,400 charities.
In a partnership with Candid, Charity Navigator added Constituent Feedback information to more than 600 charity rating profiles. This provides valuable insight into how charities are creating feedback loops with the people they serve, promoting innovation and better service delivery.
Former President Barack Obama urges financially-able Americans to help those hit the hardest by COVID-19 by sharing the link to Charity Navigator’s Coronavirus relief list.
Charity Navigator’s Consultative Council of Nonprofit Leaders (CCNL) is a diverse team of experienced nonprofit leaders that advises Charity Navigator on various aspects of the sector, sheds light on factors that influence nonprofit success, and works collaboratively to help strengthen our current and future initiatives.
Charity Navigator launches its Encompass Rating System, expanding the number of charities we rate from 9,000 to 160,000. It will assess nonprofits on four beacons: Finance & Accountability, Impact & Results, Leadership & Adaptability and Culture & Community.
Charity Navigator acquires ImpactMatters, which rated nonprofits based on the amount of good achieved per dollar spent. This data was, and still is, the largest collection of publicly available impact estimates, covering $15 billion in annual nonprofit spending.
Charity Navigator releases its Impact & Results beacon. This score will, for the first time, give nonprofits and their donors an easily understood assessment of effectiveness. The beacon is based on data and methodology developed by ImpactMatters.
On Giving Tuesday, Charity Navigator reaches the milestone of $100 million donated to over 49,000 charities since the launch of the Giving Basket.
Charity Navigator releases its Culture & Community beacon. The initial version of the is focused on determining whether nonprofit organizations engage in constituent feedback practices with their program beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
Charity Navigator launches volunteering on its platform, giving visitors the ability to browse and sign up for volunteering opportunities hosted by charities.
Nonprofits have the ability to update their organization’s profile and submit data for ratings.
We assess a charity’s leadership capacity, strategic development, and ability to adapt to internal and external changes to better deliver on its mission.
Individuals can now use the Global Giving Circle Directory on Charity Navigator to discover groups of like-minded donors to connect with in order to give back to communities in need.
Charity Navigator unveiled a new website for donors that includes a powerful, reinvented search experience and a streamlined design to help donors easily find and support organizations working on causes close to their hearts. The site also highlights Charity Navigator’s expanded ratings, which provide a holistic view of a charity’s effectiveness and reliability through a nuanced and evolved method of evaluation.
Charity Navigator Honored For Best Product, Innovation, or Service Category Responsible Technology In the 2nd Annual Anthem Awards
We introduced an upgrade to our Giving Basket with a redesign that made it feel safer and easier than ever to support multiple charities in one transaction.
Causeway enables donors to create a giving portfolio of causes they care about. Choose the cause areas that matter to you and feel secure that the recipient organizations are effective and legitimate.
By integrating our trusted data from over 225,000 nonprofits, Perplexity empowers users to find charities that resonate with their values and allows them to immediately connect to the Charity Navigator Giving Basket to donate directly.
Strong nonprofits are the heart of our communities. They meet people in moments of need, offer a first step forward, and help keep our society whole.
We’re celebrating that legacy with inspiring stories, helpful tips and reminders of how giving is embedded in the American experience.
Charity Navigator partnered with Jazwares and Feed the Children to match donations through our Giving Basket with toys donated to kids in need.
Charity Navigator introduced a major methodology update in Spring 2026, shifting to a high-definition rating system that prioritizes verified impact, workplace policies and board oversight. The rollout included redesigned nonprofit profile pages featuring a new “complete profile” banner and a streamlined portal to enhance donor transparency and simplify organizational reporting.