Criteria for investigating a charity

Does your charity meet at least one of the following criteria?

  • Does your organization publish high-quality monitoring and evaluation reports?

    A charity meets this criterion if it has at least one technical report that:

      (a) discusses how the impact of a project or program was evaluated, including what information was collected and how it was collected
      (b) discusses the actual impact of the project

    We seek enough evidence to be confident that a charity changed lives for the better - not simply that it carried out its activities as intended. Different programs aim for different sorts of life change, and must be assessed on different terms. We do not hold to a single universal rule for determining what "impact" we're looking for; rather, what we look for varies by program type. (For more, see, What constitutes impact?)

  • Does your organization stand out for program selection?

    A charity meets this criterion if it focuses primarily on (or publishes enough financial information to make it clear that 75% of its recent funding is devoted to) what we consider "priority programs." These programs have particularly strong evidence bases, enough to lower the burden of proof on a charity running them. Such programs include administering vaccinations, distributing insecticide-treated nets, and treating tuberculosis, among many others. (For more see Why do we look for charities implementing proven programs?)