BY WARREN BOROSON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Guess what these ten charities have in common?

National Veterans Services Fund, Children’s Charity Fund, the Committee for Missing Children, Firefighters Charitable Foundation, Wishing Well Foundation USA, Shiloh International Ministries, Texas Stampede, Disabled Police Officers Counseling Center, State of Florida Association of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, U.S. Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Answer: They are consistently low-rated by the country’s biggest charity-rating outfit—CharityNavigator. That outfit happens to be situated right here in New Jersey, in Glen Rock, and here’s the internet address: www.charitynavigator.org.

What’s wrong with the Wishing Well Foundation, for example? (It helps fulfill the wishes of dying children.) Well, it spends 82.1% of its income on fund-raising; 8.6% on admnistrative expenses; and a mere 9.1% on the services it provides. On a score of 0 to 4, CharityNavigator gives Wishing Well a zero.

CharityNavigator doesn’t accept contributions from the charities it evaluates. Seems even-handed in its evaluations. And it gives good advice in general.

Charities are given stars, from four (tops) to zero (bottom). Based on (1) financials, (2) accountability and transparency, and (3) results. Good charities tend to wind up spending a huge percentage of their contributions on programs and services, not spending much of their money on fund-raisers or administration.

Here are the ratings of several well-known charities:

The American Red Cross gets 3 stars. The Anti-Defamation League gets 2, as does the Nature Conservancy. American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Foundation gets 3 stars. Salvation Army is not rated. AARP gets 3 stars. United Way of Northern New Jersey gets 4 stars. So does the YMCA of Greater New York and New Jersey. JCC MetroWest is not evaluated—apparently it hasn’t provided information needed.

March of Dimes gets only 2. Boy Scouts of America isn’t evaluated because of charges of molestation pending against certain leaders. Boys Town gets 4 stars. So does the American Heart Association, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

A few generalizations on my part: Some charities with unusually humane names really stink. I remember that, many years ago, the guys who ran a charity for disabled veterans found themselves with extra money. So the guys simply gave themselves $1 million each. Who said that charity begins at home?

The government officials who are supposed to monitor charities, as The New York Times wrote recently, don’t have enough staff.

Many the people who run charities, I venture to say, are vastly overpaid. (Like the CEO of the Young American Conservatives Foundation, 2 stars, who recently got $525,961 a year.) I mean, how capable must you be to run a charity? Instead of paying these yoyos $150,000 a year (the average that a charity CEO makes), why not hire a kid just out of business school? Why not hire yours truly? I’m serious. I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide—and I used to even be able to handle calculus; I’m scrupulously honest; I make terrific speeches; and I could really use $150,000 a year to supplement my meager Social Security income.

Okay, here are some really good, fairly well-known charities, endorsed by CharityNavigator: Direct Relief, Conservation Fund, United States Foundation, Teach for America, Young Life, Samaritan’s Purse, The Carter Center, the National Christian Foundation, PATH (global health), and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Here are the ratings of some New Jersey organizations: Karen Ann Quinlan Chapter, in Newton: zero stars; Tomorrows Children’s Foundation, Hackensack, 1 star; Healing the Children, Hawthorne, 4 stars; Arnold P. Gold Foundation, Englewood Cliffs, 3 stars.

Finally, a really deserving place for you to send a contribution: CharityNavigator, 239 Harristown Road, Suite 101, Glen Rock 07452.

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Correction: The original publication of this article stated that United Way of Northern New Jersey got 3 stars. It has been corrected to state they recieved 4 stars.