Tips For How To Investigate A Charity's Results

Learn about a charity's accomplishments, goals and challenges by reviewing its website and/or talking with staff. They should be able to tell you about the quality and depth of their results as well as their capacity to continue to get these results, not just the number of activities or people served. This is critical step, after all, the charity's ability to bring about long lasting and meaningful change in the lives of people and communities should be the key reason for your financial investment. You can use the following 7 questions as a guide.

1. What is the charity’s commitment to reporting results?
   Look for a clear statement identifying a methodology for monitoring results. And when looking at the results, check to see if the charity reported the time period that covers the results, if the results are related to the charity's mission and if there are results from a prior time period. Finally, see if you can identify a means by which the charity validated the reported results.
2. How does the charity demonstrate the demand for its services?
   Here you want to see that the charity can show both a demand for and a utilization of its programs and services.
3. Does the charity report its activities (what it does)?
   Check to see if the charity offers information about its mission-related activities, if it provides the data in comparison to a prior time period and if it shows the costs affiliated with each of those activities.
4. Does the charity report it outputs (immediate results)?
   Apply the same concepts in #3 to outputs by checking to see if the charity offers information about its outputs (immediate results flowing from the activities it does), if it provides the data in comparison to a prior time period and if it shows the costs affiliated with each of those mission-related outputs.
5. Does the charity report its outcomes (medium- and longer-term results)?
   Here donors should check to see whether the information provided by the charity shows progress towards an outcome - a measurable change resulting from activities and outputs over the medium and longer-term.
6. What is the quality of evidence for reported results?
   Check to see if the charity has provided any evidence (such as case studies, beneficiary feedback, third-party evaluation) for its reported outputs and outcomes.
7. Does the charity adjust and improve in light of its results?
   However difficult or easy it is to collect and publish results data, the acid test for charities is how they use the data. At Charity Navigator we recognize that charities that consistently learn and improve will have good outcomes.