How The Chronicle Compiled Its Philanthropy 400 Rankings of the Largest Charities

The Philanthropy 400 ranks charities that raised the most money from private sources in fiscal year 2013.

The rankings are based on cash and product donations as well as stock, land, and other gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations in the United States.

The Philanthropy 400 is designed to show which groups do the best in appealing to donors, so other types of income, such as government payments, are not included.

Donations raised outside the United States are also excluded, even if an organization has affiliates overseas.

To gather data on private donations, The Chronicle used Internal Revenue Service Form 990 informational tax filings. It also examined financial statements and annual reports and sent a survey to all nonprofits likely to make the list.

Organizations with affiliates are ranked based on consolidated figures; because some successful fundraising groups cannot provide this information, they do not appear on the list.

Information is based on donations each group raised in its 2013 fiscal year. In 33 cases, organizations said they could not provide 2013 figures, so The Chronicle used 2012 figures to rank them.

The Chronicle aims to draw all figures from similar sources so that it can compare the data fairly. However, in some cases that’s not practical. For instance, because public colleges do not have to file informational returns, The Chronicle relies on data collected by the Council for Aid to Education for both public and private colleges.

Because the council does not allow institutions to count pledges, as the 990 allows, figures for colleges can be compared within that group but not to other similarly sized institutions.

Religious Groups

Religious groups are not required by law to file informational tax forms, but some voluntarily provided fundraising data so The Chronicle could rank them, while others declined.

This year’s Philanthropy 400 was able to include a consolidated figure on food banks affiliated with Feeding America. In the past, some of those food banks were included separately.

To help readers see how each food bank fared, we created a list highlighting how much 20 of the largest ones raised from private sources. The list is available at philanthropy.com.

The Chronicle strives to include all charities that may be eligible for the Philanthropy 400. To suggest a group for inclusion, please send an email to: research@philanthropy.com

Mary Bowerman and Lance Lambert contributed to the compilation of the Philanthropy 400.