How the Chronicle Ranks America’s Favorite Charities

America’s Favorite Charities is the Chronicle’s exclusive ranking of the U.S. nonprofits that raise the most in private support — gifts of cash and stock, specifically. It excludes government grants and, when possible, donated products. The goal: to identify cause-driven organizations that most successfully earn direct financial support from individuals, foundations, and corporations.

The ranking is based on average annual support raised by organizations from 2021 to 2023, the last year when full figures are available. Data used in the ranking was compiled from Internal Revenue Service Form 990 filings, audited financial statements, and surveys sent to tax-exempt organizations.

What Is Not Included

The Chronicle reported only on nonprofits that solicit donations from the public. Private foundations were excluded, as were organizations based abroad and any overseas affiliates of domestic groups. We did not include nonprofits controlled by government agencies.

The ranking excludes medical centers, colleges, and universities whose cash support makes up less than 50 percent of revenue. Unlike other charities, these organizations provide paid services to constituencies — patients, students, and their families — who also represent a significant share of their donors.

In calculating cash support, when we could determine which gifts to an organization went to its donor-advised funds, we excluded them. The ranking aims to measure the American public’s support of specific causes and organizations, and donor-advised accounts are charitable-giving vehicles, not organizations with a social mission.

Nonprofits such as community foundations and commercial DAFs, which bring in enormous sums through contributions to their donor-advised accounts, typically do not raise enough money outside of those accounts to appear in this ranking.

Data Collection

The Chronicle partnered with Cause IQ, a web-based provider of nonprofit information, to collect most of the data from the 990 tax forms that charities must file with the Internal Revenue Service. For some national organizations with affiliates, Cause IQ gathered data for all member organizations. Other national groups provided the information to the Chronicle.

Some national organizations that likely would appear in the ranking were unable to provide the data. These include Catholic Charities and the National Council of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul.