| Givewell Code |
A unique 3 letter code allotted by
Givewell to each organisation in our research library.
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| Category |
A one or two word description of the
primary activities of the organisation, chosen from our
list of cause categories. The list of categories can be viewed here.
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| Donations Tax Deductible |
Givewell
will independently refer to the ATO Gift Register to
verify the status of each organisation. If the exact
name is not listed, we state the closest to it.
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| Method of Incorporation |
The legal
status of the organisation.
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| History |
A brief description of the origins/history
of the organisation, the year the organisation was
founded, by whom and for what reason.
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| Cause |
A summary of the cause or
environment in which the organisation operates. Is this
the type of problem you wish to donate to?
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| Purpose |
The way in which the organisation
documents its charter, mission statement, vision, or
objective.
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| Activities |
A short description about the kind
of work that is being carried out by the organisation.
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| Accounts Qualified |
If a report is qualified, details of the nature
of the qualification are provided. Please note
that qualifications concerning accounting
controls over fundraising income are common for
charitable organisations.
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| Key Financial Indicators |
This area
includes Gross Revenue, Operating Surplus(Deficit) and
Net Assets for this year and last year. Also included is
a list of a few major assets and major revenue sources
for the organisation.
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Fundraising
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Fundraising Income includes merchandising income (net of cost of goods sold, but not net of staff salary or rent) or net proceeds of goods sold to members of the public which are not manufactured by the organisation or the people who the organisation services (clients). It does not include sales to clients or sales of goods and services manufactured or delivered by clients. Fundraising Income also includes donations, bequests, sponsorships and grants from private trusts and foundations.
Net proceeds from activities such as Housie, Lotteries, Raffles and other games of chance are also included. In these cases, expenditure for these activities is a large proportion of the income raised, so net proceeds are counted in Gross Fundraising Revenue and the expenditure is NOT considered to be a Cost of Fundraising.
In-kind donations of goods or services are rarely accounted for in charities’ financial reports, so in an effort to maintain consistency across organisations, where such figures are disclosed, they are not counted in Gross Fundraising Revenue or Gross Revenue from all Sources.
Membership fees are counted as Fundraising where members of an organisation provide support to a cause they believe in e.g. Greenpeace or Amnesty International. Membership of organisations such as the Cystic Fibrosis Society is not counted as Fundraising as members are generally also clients of these organisations.
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Cost of Fundraising
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Includes external marketing costs, salaries and benefits and all associated costs of fundraising staff. Direct expenditure may include wages, commissions, promoters’ fees, all costs incurred as a result of engaging a trader, consultancy fees, costs of supervision, advertising costs, costs of printing receipt books of tickets, hall hire, transport costs, workers compensation and public risk insurance for appeal workers.
Givewell acknowledges that different organisations have different
interpretations and accounting practices in relation to fundraising costs.
Hence fundraising cost ratios may not be comparable. Each ratio also varies
according to the methods of fundraising used by each organisation as well
as its success using those methods.
Not withstanding these reservations about comparability, we have noted a high
level of interest in fundraising statistics and will continue to make disclosure
from published accounts in the interests of transparency.
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Other examples of charity review processes
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Givewell is the first organisation in Australia to provide
information which enables systematic monitoring of charities.
For overseas examples of standards in this area the BBB Wise Giving Alliance (The Alliance) - http://us.bbb.org/ - was formed in 2001 through the merger of the National Charities Information Bureau with the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Foundation.
The merger partners offer over a century of combined experience in charity evaluation.
The Alliance produces in-depth evaluative reports on national charities based on comprehensive Standards for Charity Accountability and publishes a quarterly magazine, the Wise Giving Guide.
The International Committee on
Fundraising Organisations (ICFO) -
http://www.icfo.de/ -
lists International Standards for good governance and management of
charitable organisations.
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If you have any questions, please contact us by email or call Givewell Research Analyst Margaret Harlow on (02) 6682 5460.
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