Evaluating Not-for-Profits - In General

• If you consider such organizations for source information or as groups to be involved in and support, first thoroughly evaluate them for their goals, methods, activities, successes and failures, supporters, and more.
• It is particularly important to note that some are shams created by those parties (often industries or, even, individual corporations) whose activities the organization is supposed to be concerned about.
• Other ones are the tools to put out a slant on environmental issues from a particular political point of view.

Evaluating Not-for-Profits - Financials

• Not everything is as it seems in charitable organizations. You, I, anyone can form a not-for-profit (non-profit) organization The organization can apply most of the money that it receives to effecting its humanitarian, social, environmental, medical, or other goals, or the organization can use most of the money to pay its administrators and general, non-goal expenses. In other words, there are not-for-profit organizations that are badly managed, that are shams, that are scams and frauds. Watch out for them.
• A generally accepted rule is that a not-for-profit organization should be spending at least 75% of the donations that it receives to effect the goals, the stated mission of the organization. There are collection, administrative, and general operational costs that such organizations have, so 75% is not too bad. On the other hand, there are a few organizations who spend up to 95% or more of the funds that they take in on the purposes that they serve. The Kaiser Permanente hospitals are an example of that.
• So what do you do? You check the organizations out with the IRS, with the California Attorney General's Office, and with reputable "watchdog" organizations that collect information on not-for-profits. The following table gives you some of these sources of information on such groups.

Examples

• A political example - What is the intent and who supports the National Wilderness Institute? Sounds like a good name for a wilderness advocacy group. But carefully read the organization's "About NWI" web page. Read about who are the advisors. Look at the organizations' testimony on environmental issues.
• A financial example - The American Land Conservancy IS a reputable organization, but its financials are somewhat bothersome. Out of $3,894,051 that it collected in its fiscal year ending December 31, 2002, only$2,366,374 went to "program services," while $1,140,845 went to "administration," and $31,386 to "other services," with a net (unexpended) gain of $355,446. In other words, only 61% of the money taken in went directly to the mission of the organization. 29% of the money received went to administrative expenses.

Evaluation methods

1.	Apply general evaluation criteria	The criteria used for evaluating documents, web pages, and web sites are just as applicable to the evaluating the nature and goals of environmental organizations.
2.	Check out their reputation	Check out an organization with other organizations whose reputation you are sure of.
3.	Check out the media on an organization	Environmental organizations of any size have some presence in the media. Use article databases and news web sites to investigate any organiztion.
4.	Check out their not-for-profit financial status.	Not-for-profit organizations have to fill out an Internal Revenue Service From 990, which is similar to a 1040 tax form. This form is useful for finding out exactly what an organization is spending its money on and who is funding it. Some useful sites for checking out not-for-profits include:

Web Sites for Checking Out Not-for-Profit Financials

ORGANIZATION	NOTES
RATING ORGANIZATIONS
Give.org - From the BBB Wise Giving Alliance	Provides information on several hundred not-for-profit organizations. From the Better Business Bureau http://www.give.org/reports/index.asp
Charity Navigator	Infromation on over 3,000 of the country's largest charities, but no Forms 990. http://www.charitynavigator.org/
GuideStar.org	A searchable collection of information on about one million not-for-profit organizations. Includes IRS Forms 990, which all not-for-profits must file with the IRS on their financial operations. You must register (free) to look at the Forms 990. http://www.guidestar.org/
Charity Watch	From the American Institute of Philanthropy http://www.charitywatch.org/
Search for Charities, Online Version of IRS Publication 78	Online,searchable version of "Publication 78, Cumulative List of Organizations described in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, is a list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions." Only a list of organizations to which contributions may be deductible. Does not provide Form 990 or other information. http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=96136,00.html
CALIFORNIA
Charities Search	A database with information on the more than 80,000 charities registered in California. provides access to the Form 990s for many Calfornia not-for-profit organizations. From the Office of the Attorney General of California. http://justice.doj.ca.gov/charitysr/default.asp