Is this Legit?

With so many ministries and organizations asking for donations for missions and causes that tug at our hearts, and so many scams and frauds coming to our phones and inboxes every day, how do we tell where we can safely and effectively donate our money? Below are two online tools that can help, Charity Navigator and MinistryWatch 1000 Database.

Charity Navigator is one website that can help. It works to determine if a nonprofit is effective. All you need to do is enter the name of the organization you are interested in into the search bar and it will return a rating. For example, First Presbyterian Church supports ChildVoice, which works to restore hope to war-affected and exploited youth in Uganda, Nigeria, and Ukraine. Charity Navigator gives ChildVoice four stars and a 100% rating, so we can give with confidence.

Another organization that helps sort through misleading fundraising and opacity is Ministry Watch. They have a database of the 1000 largest ministries that examines "financial efficiency, transparency, and goals" and gives a donor confidence score. You can access this database here. [ChildVoice is not large enough to be included.] This database allows you to click on a ministry and see detailed information across several metrics, including fundraising cost ratios, program expenses, solvency, and its balance sheet, as well as leader compensation. Links to any articles MinistryWatch has written about it, positive or negative, are also there.

Ministry Watch offered a more complete discussion of how donors should approach a ministry before giving through a recent headline you may have seen: "Spiritual Vacuum in Iran - Bibles Needed Now." You can read their recommendations as they followed this headline to the source and showed the importance of asking questions here.