Watchdog Watch

Following are summaries of recent reports by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. This private group reports on whether charities meet standards for fund raising, governance, financial management, and public information. The alliance does not approve or disapprove of charities, and urges potential donors to evaluate the importance of variations from the standards. It also notes that charities’ practices may change at any time. For organizations that do not meet the standards, information is given only on those standards that are not met. Those organizations meet all the other standards.

Copies of the full reports are available from the Wise Giving Alliance, 4200 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203; http://give.org.

African Wildlife Foundation, formerly known as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, 1400 16th Street, N.W., Suite 120, Washington, D.C. 20036; http://www.awf.org. Meets all standards.

Alley Cat Allies, 7920 Norfolk Avenue, Suite 600, Bethesda, Md. 20814; http://www.alleycat.org. Does not meet the standard calling for a charitable organization to have no more than one compensated person, or 10 percent of the board, whichever is greater, serving as a voting member of the board, and for compensated members not to serve as the board’s chair or treasurer.

Animal Rescue Foundation, also known as Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation, 2890 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, Calif. 94598; http://www.arf.net. Meets all standards.

Big Cat Rescue, formerly known as WildLife on Easy Street, 12802 Easy Street, Tampa, Fla. 33625; http://www.bigcatrescue.org. Meets all standards. Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Street, Lancaster, Ky. 40444; http://www.chrisapp.org. Meets all standards.

From the Top, formerly known as Concert Productions, 295 Huntington Avenue, Suite 201, Boston, Mass. 02115; http://www.fromthetop.org. Does not meet the standard calling for a charitable organization to have a board policy for assessing, at least every two years, the organization’s performance and effectiveness and for determining actions to achieve its mission.

Give Kids the World, 210 South Bass Road, Kissimmee, Fla. 34746; http://www.gktw.org. Meets all standards.

I Have a Dream Foundation, 330 Seventh Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001; http://www.ihad.org. Meets all standards.

International Justice Mission, 4601 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 1201, Arlington, Va. 22207; http://www.ijm.org. Does not meet the standard calling for a charitable organization to clearly disclose how the charity benefits from the sale of products or services that state or imply that a charity will benefit from a consumer’s purchase or business transaction.

Jane Goodall Institute, 8700 Georgia Avenue, Suite 500, Silver Spring, Md. 20910; http://www.janegoodall.org. Does not meet the standard calling for a charitable organization to include on Web sites that solicit contributions the same information recommended for annual reports, as well as the mailing address of the charity and electronic access to its most recent IRS Form 990. As of July 2005, the organization had not provided complete information about its finances, programs, and governance. Therefore, the alliance is unable to determine if the Jane Goodall Institute meets 10 additional standards.

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 1232 22nd Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; http://www.nof.org. Meets all standards.