Top-Rated Seal FAQs
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Are there any restrictions as to how my organization may use the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal? Does CharityWatch charge charities to use its Top-Rated Seal? Who do I contact if I am having technical difficulties using the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal? How will I know if my organization has dropped from the CharityWatch Top-Rated List? Q. What criteria determines whether or not my organization is Top-Rated and eligible to use the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal? A. See the Top-Rated page for a list of highly efficient charities and for an overview of the benchmarks a charity must meet to receive Top-Rated status. Specific criteria include: a. A charity must earn a grade of B+ or higher, as calculated by CharityWatch, for the financial year rated. See the Our Process section on How Grades are Calculated for more specific information. b. A charity must not hold excessive assets in reserve. See the Our Process section on Treatment of High Assets and CharityWatch’s list of High Asset Charities for more specific information. c. A charity must meet CharityWatch’s Transparency benchmarks. A charity must post a complete copy of its most current, independent audited financial statements on its public website. It must also provide complete copies of its IRS tax form(s) 990 to CharityWatch upon request, and may be required to answer questions related to its financial reporting and/or provide additional documentation if such information is necessary for CharityWatch to complete a meaningful evaluation. See the Transparency Benchmark section of the Our Process page for more specific information. d. A charity must meet CharityWatch’s Governance benchmarks. CharityWatch reviews a charity's tax form to see if it reports having certain policies in place, a sufficiently large and independent governing body, and other basic governance information that serve as standard benchmarks for large charities of national scope or interest. To be eligible for Top-Rated status, charities must pass nine benchmarks, and, in addition, CharityWatch must not be aware of any serious governance issues at the charity that would cause it to fail our overall standards for good governance. See the Governance Benchmarks section of the Our Process page for more specific information. Q. Are there any restrictions as to how my organization may use the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal? A. Yes. If your charity uses the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal you are subject to the Terms of Use. Q. Does CharityWatch charge charities to use its Top-Rated Seal? A. No. Because we strongly believe it is a conflict of interest to charge a charity to publicize its Top-Rated status, we offer use of the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal without charge. We do not charge charities to use the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal, and have no plans to do so.
A. If you are having technical difficulties using the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal, please review the Download Instructions on the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal page. If you have followed the download instructions but are still having technical difficulties, please contact CharityWatch at [email protected]. For a faster response, please type "CharityWatch Seal—Technical Difficulties" in the subject line so we may direct your question to the appropriate staff member. Be sure to include a detailed description of the specific technical issue you are having.
A. All versions of the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal are subject to the Terms of Use. Click here to obtain higher resolution & vector images of the Top-Rated Seal.
A. CharityWatch performs updated evaluations of charities on an ongoing basis throughout the year, and updates the Top-Rated page when there is a change. As a courtesy, we will use the contact information your organization provided when you initially received access to the Seal page to inform you of any changes to your organization's Top-Rated status. Please contact us to change your designated contact person, or if there are any changes to your designated contact person's information. Charities using the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal are responsible for checking the CharityWatch Top-Rated page periodically to ensure that they are still Top-Rated. A complete list of CharityWatch's ratings also appears in our publication, the Charity Rating Guide & Watchdog Report. Members logged into the charitywatch.org website also have access to all of CharityWatch's ratings. Because the CharityWatch website may be more up-to-date than the print version of the Guide, organizations should refer to the Top-Rated page for their most current rating information. Q. How do I change/update the contact information of the person my organization has designated to receive CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal information? A. To update the contact information of the person your organization has designated to receive CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal information, send an e-mail to [email protected]. For a faster response, please type "CharityWatch Seal—Contact Information Update" in the subject line so we may direct your e-mail to the appropriate staff member. Be sure to include the new contact person's first and last name, job title, direct phone number, and e-mail address in your message, along with the name of your organization. Q. My organization has multiple, related entities. How do I know which entity or entities of my organization are included in CharityWatch's rating? A. As stated in the Terms of Use, the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal is intended for use only by the entity or entities included in CharityWatch's rating, and not for use by the related entities of an organization. CharityWatch generally focuses on rating the 501(c)3 entities of an organization. While CharityWatch does in some cases issue ratings of other types of organizations such as 501(c)4, 501(c)19, or other groups, such entities are typically rated separately. For example, if CharityWatch separately rates both the 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 entities of your organization, but only the c(3) entity is Top-Rated by CharityWatch, the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal may be used only to publicize the rating of the (c)3 entity. In cases where solicitations, annual reports, web pages, or other print or electronic media reflects information on your consolidated organization, or on multiple entities of your organization, you may use the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal as long as you clearly state which entity or entities are included in the rating. For example, if multiple entities of your organization are being represented on your website, but only the 501(c)3 entity is rated by CharityWatch and appears on the CharityWatch Top-Rated page, you must clearly name the entity that is Top-Rated by CharityWatch. If you are unsure as to which entities are included in CharityWatch's rating of your organization, please send an inquiry to [email protected]. For a faster response, please type "CharityWatch Seal—Related Organizations" in the subject line so that we may direct your inquiry to the appropriate staff member.
A. CharityWatch's ratings are based on a thorough analysis of a charity's tax forms, audited financial statements, and annual reports. Certain adjustments may be made to reported figures in the process of CharityWatch's in-depth evaluation of an organization's financial activities. For more information on CharityWatch's rating process, please refer to the Our Process section of our website. If after reading the rating criteria your organization has more detailed questions as to how your group's current rating was calculated, you may forward a written inquiry from a manager within your organization's accounting or finance department that details your specific questions to [email protected], or via U.S. Mail to: CharityWatch We require that detailed inquiries be received directly from an official within the accounting or finance department who has expertise in the financial reporting of your organization. This requirement is so that we may avoid multiple inquiries from different individuals within the same charity, and also due to the expertise and extensive time required to thoroughly respond to such inquiries. We regret that we cannot respond to inquiries that do not come directly from an official within an organization's accounting or finance department. Q. How do I get answers to questions not covered in the FAQ section of the CharityWatch Top-Rated Seal page? A. If you have questions not specifically related to CharityWatch's Top-Rated Seal, you may find answers on our website at www.charitywatch.org. Here you can find out additional information about CharityWatch, our charity rating process, and general FAQ that will answer many of the questions you may have. If you have a question that is not answered on the CharityWatch website, please contact us at [email protected] with your inquiry. Due to the volume of inquiries we receive please allow several business days for a response. We thank you in advance for your patience. |