STUDY SHOWS ST. LOUIS IS HOME TO TOP CHARITIES

Frank Azar

If you are looking for your donations to be used

responsibly, you can do worse than the nonprofits in

St. Louis.

Thats because a recent study conducted by Charity

Navigators Metro Market determined that among the 30

largest markets in the country, St. Louis was home to the best run nonprofits, The NonProfit

Times reports.

The study ranked the markets on 21 dierent metrics that include program expenses, working capital ratio, Form 990s and financial statements online, and total

assets. They also included three aggregate scores: overall, financial, and accountability and

transparency. What they found was that St. Louiss charities have fewer expenses, better revenue growth,

more transparency and more assets.

Charity Navigator ranks over 7,000 charities, and this study of the 30 largest markets covers just over half of them. On a 70 point scale, St. Louis scored a 58.79 with the national median being 56.12. St. Louis did not make the top five in the rankings last year. In fact, only Houston had that honor for both 2013 and

2014, holding the number two spot each year. Cleveland, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Pittsburgh took

the third, fourth and fith spots, respectively.

While St. Louis had the best scores overall, other cities excelled in particular ways. For example, New

York City had the highest number of nonprofits with 697, and led the country in CEO pay. Portland,

Oregon, scored low overall and financially, but were by far the most accountable and transparent, earning a score of 66 percent. Miami nonprofits won in the

eciency category, spending merely $0.055 per dollar raised.

Ken Berger, Charity Navigator President and CEO, noted that the study illustrates particular challenges

that each region of the U.S. faces in the world of charity, but also praised its robustness.

America is home to the largest nonprofit sector in the history of the world and its overall strength

continues to amaze us, Berger said.

To read more, check out the original article at The NonProfit Times.