For charities

			For charities A WARM WELCOME to visiting charities. We hope this page explains our work satisfactorily. For the complete picture about Intelligent Giving, visit About us. Click the headings that interest you or just scroll down.

	>		Our motivations
	>		How much it costs charities
	>		How we chose who to list
	>		How we calculate transparency
	>		Why transparency is important
	>		How we choose our ‘experts’
	>		Contact us


			Our motivations We’re doing this because we want the public to become interested in charities and to give more. That's it. We're simple folk. Getting people interested in charities is very hard. You can't do it by publishing more hard-luck stories about beneficiaries. The truth is that most people don't have the stamina to read things that make them feel uncomfortable. It needs a different approach. So to attract interest we have decided to be the chatty counterpoint to charities’ own messages - in the same way that countless other magazines, columnists and broadcasters give alternative sides of consumer products and services. If we are seen to be promoting charities for the sake of promoting them – which we don’t want to do anyway - we will lose the public’s trust. Hence some negative reviews and negative information on this site. We’re not seeking out the negative but frankly it’s there and when we think it should be published, we publish it. Note that we also publish a lot of positive information. We have no axe to grind. We’re not allied to any charity, sector, religion, umbrella body, government initiative or business. We’re doing this because we think it should be done. We're as impartial as you can be. Back to top

			How much it costs charities It costs charities nothing. We have a variety of income-generating schemes up our sleeve but charging charities to be listed is not and never will be one of them. It wouldn't sit terribly well with our independent, impartial approach. Back to top

			How we chose who to list in our first year We wanted to include every charity in the country. But there are 180,000 of you, a fragmented regulatory framework, and a handful of us. We had to reduce the list to 1500 that would be relevant to the public and reviewable by us. So we ended up looking for charities which:
	>		Are registered with the Charity Commission (England and Wales)
	>		Have at least one year’s accounts available for view on the Charity Commission Register web site
	>		Spend £250,000 or more a year
	>		Solicit money from the public
	>		Serve causes which help underprivileged beneficiaries/areas (eg schools for disabled children, not public schools)
	>		Are distributed fairly equally across all of the 17 charity sectors which we have identified, so all causes are covered Inevitably some charities slipped through the net and some others became bycatch (and we’ve returned them to the wild as soon as we’ve found out). We’d like to know if either applies to your charity; we will rectify as soon as we can. Back to top

			How we calculate transparency This year's transparency (“Quality of Reporting”) criteria are applied to the one document which all charities must produce by law: the annual report (incorporating accounts). A handful of criteria also address the web site and Annual Review, if either exist. The criteria are informed to varying extents by the following:
	>		The Charity Commission's "Hallmarks of an Effective Charity"
	>		The Charity Commission's The Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) 2005
	>		The Charity Commission's “Transparency and Accountability” - Regulatory Study 8
	>		The question, “Does this charity appear to prioritise its beneficiaries?”
	>		The question, “Does this charity give me enough information that I can compare it easily with another charity?”
	>		Data that we can judge within a maximum of three hours per charity The exact criteria - and more discussion of transparency - can be found in the About Us section. Back to top

			Why transparency is important Transparency isn't an academic or corporate fad. It lets (potential) donors find out what they're really supporting and it shows them your own confidence in what you are doing. We'd also humbly suggest that it helps you examine the workings of your organisation. We talk more about the importance of transparency in this article. If you'd like to make your annual report more transparent, we can point you to two of our overall favourite examples for guidance:
	>		Small charity: Butterfly Conservation or Ty Hafan
	>		Household name: The National Trust Specific examples of good reporting can be found here:
	>		Trustee appointment details: Medair's report
	>		Plans for the future: World Emergency Relief's report
	>		Organization: The British Library
	>		Future expenditure plans: ORBIS Charitable Trust's report
	>		Clear risk management: BioRegional Development Group's report
	>		Description of the benefit to users: Action Against Hunger's report
	>		A sense of candour about what’s really going on: ActionAid's report
	>		How grants are awarded: BBC Children in Need's report
	>		The value of volunteers: British Red Cross' report
	>		Clear detail of government income: RSPB's report
	>		Clear information on subsidiary companies: Variety Club's report Back to top

			How we choose our ‘experts’ for our Experts' Opinion columns We first gathered our ‘experts’ to write in the Experts’ Opinion on the basis of personal (and their personal) contacts. We obviously want to break those bounds. What we are looking for is people with:
	>		Solid knowledge of their subject matter
	>		An independent position, ideally not aligned with a particular charity
	>		An interesting point of view which most donors won't have heard
	>		Suggestions to donors how to respond If you fall into those categories, we would love to hear from you. Back to top

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