Watchdog Watch

Following are summaries of recent reports by the National Charities Information Bureau.

That private organization reports on whether charities meet standards for fund raising, governance, financial management, and public information. The organization does not approve or disapprove of charities, and it 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 National Charities Information Bureau, 19 Union Square West, New York 10003; World-Wide Web http://www.give.org.

Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington 20002. Does not meet the following standards: (1) that the organization’s governing board have an individual attendance policy; (2) that the board have policy guidelines to avoid material conflicts of interest involving board or staff members; (3) that the board have a policy promoting pluralism and diversity within the organization’s board, staff, and constituencies; (4) that the organization’s annual report include an explicit narrative description of the organization’s major activities, presented in the same major categories and covering the same fiscal period as the audited financial statements; (5) that the annual report include audited financial statements, or, at a minimum, a comprehensive financial summary that reports ending net assets, among other things; and (6) that the organization prepare a detailed annual budget consistent with the major classifications in the audited financial statements and approved by the board.

Junior Achievement (National Service Center only), One Education Way, Colorado Springs 80906-4477. Meets all standards.

National Relief Charities (also soliciting as American Indian Relief Council, Children’s Critical Care Alliance, Council of Indian Nations, Native American Scholarship Foundation, and Organ Transplant Support Network), 70 Main Street, Suite 43, Warrenton, Va. 20186-3346. As of July 17, N.R.C. had not responded to the bureau’s request for information about finances, programs, or governance. Based on the organization’s 1996 annual financial report filed with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations, which includes its I.R.S. Form 990 and audited financial statements, and on information forwarded by contributors or previously in the bureau’s files, N.R.C. does not meet the following standards: (1) that the governing board have no more than one paid staff member, usually the chief staff officer, who shall not chair the board or serve as treasurer; (2) that promotion, fund raising, and public information should describe accurately the organization’s identity, purpose, programs, and financial needs; (3) that the organization spend at least 60 per cent of annual expenses for program activities; and (4) that the organization insure that fund-raising expenses, in relation to fund-raising results, are reasonable over time.

World Concern, 19303 Fremont Avenue North, Seattle 98133. Meets all standards.