Wearing pink and pinning up pink ribbons will show that your salon supports breast cancer awareness. But when you get more involved and stage an event to raise money, check out a charity before you donate. Sometimes you want to contribute to a local, highly targeted cause—perhaps a client’s family is raising funds for her living expenses while she takes off work to get treatment. Other times, you decide to support an established national organization. Do you know what that organization will do with the money you contribute?
Charity Navigator demystifies this by rating major charities after investigating their records and reports. The ratings are based not only on the percentage of funds that go to the program rather than to administrative expenses, but also on multiple “accountability and transparency” factors. In Charity Navigator’s breast cancer category, this is how the charities shake out:
4 stars
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
The Rose
Breast Cancer Connections
National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
Living Beyond Breast Cancer
Breastcancer.org
Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation
Sharsheret
3 stars
Breast Cancer Alliance
Casting for Recovery
American Italian Cancer Foundation
Young Survival Coalition
Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation
National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund
Prevent Cancer Foundation
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
2 stars
John Wayne Cancer Institute
American Cancer Society
Breast Cancer Fund
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
1 star
Breast Cancer Prevention Fund
United Breast Cancer Foundation
American Breast Cancer Foundation
The Breast Cancer Relief Foundation
0 stars
Walker Cancer Research Institute
SHARE
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.