For the 4th year in a row Grassroot Soccer (GRS) has been awarded the highest rating of Four Stars by Charity Navigator, America’s premier independent charity evaluator. Only 7% of the 7,000 charities they rate have received this distinction for at least four consecutive years. This rating includes the highest possible score for fundraising efficiency. GRS has also achieved a perfect score in the categories of accountability and transparency, based on our adherence to standards of good governance and ethical best practices, along with our commitment to making it easy for donors to find critical information about our organization.
Since 2002, using data-driven analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added a second dimension of Accountability and Transparency (A&T) to its rating methodology, and now reviews 17 governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, providing information on its web site for each of the charities it evaluates. The A&T metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity’s overall rating, reveal which charities have “best practices” that minimize the chance of unethical activities and whether they freely share basic information about their organization with their donors and other stakeholders.
“Grassroot Soccer’s coveted 4-star rating puts it in a very select group of high-performing charities,” according to Ken Berger, President and CEO, Charity Navigator. “Out of the thousands of nonprofits Charity Navigator evaluates, only one out of four earns 4 stars — a rating that, now, with our new Accountability and Transparency metrics, demands even greater rigor, responsibility and commitment to openness. Grassroot Soccer’s supporters should feel much more confident that their hard-earned dollars are being used efficiently and responsibly when it acquires such a high rating.”
“In the current economic environment, it’s important our donors trust that we’re using our funding wisely to educate, inspire, and mobilize young people to stop the spread of HIV,” said GRS Global Board of Directors Chairman Tom Crotty. “Our 4-star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to our supporters that we take our fiduciary and governance responsibilities very seriously.”
Grassroot Soccer’s rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on www.charitynavigator.org.