Responding to Crises

Unlike other organizations that provide lists when a crisis occurs, Charity Navigator Give Now lists feature only highly rated charities who also have a more complete rating (3+ beacons). Charity Navigator has made a major enhancement in our Give Now lists which support communities impacted by a natural or humanitarian crisis. Our expert analysts include local nonprofits working alongside national nonprofits responding to the crisis.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton

Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage along the southeastern U.S. coast, impacting states like Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. With intense winds, heavy rainfall, and flooding, the storm left communities grappling with power outages, damaged infrastructure, and loss of life. Shortly after, Hurricane Milton brought additional devastation to the region, compounding the challenges for affected residents.

In response to both disasters, Charity Navigator quickly curated lists of highly rated national and local organizations, providing immediate relief and long-term support. By including highly rated local organizations alongside national nonprofits, our lists are now more specific and community-focused. This means donors can confidently support charities that are directly addressing the challenges on the ground.

Donors rallied to aid those in need and support ongoing disaster recovery efforts, underscoring the importance of preparedness and collective action during crises.

Humanitarian Crises in Gaza and Ukraine

The relentless and devastating conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine are plunging millions into a dire humanitarian crisis, with escalating needs that demand urgent global attention and intervention. Charity Navigator’s expert analysts identified and curated lists of top-rated charities providing essential aid, from emergency medical care to long-term peace-building initiatives. Donors responded with compassion, supporting organizations working tirelessly to bring relief and hope to affected communities.

The Giving Crisis

The nonprofit sector faced challenges stemming from long-term declines in giving and volunteering rates. According to the Generosity Commission’s 2024 report, the number of U.S. households donating to nonprofits fell below 50% in 2018 and continues to decline, with volunteerism also reaching historic lows. Despite these trends, 2024 showed glimmers of improvement as donors re-engaged with causes they care about.

Charity Navigator remains committed to making impactful giving easier for all and increasing trust in the sector through high-quality ratings and information. We believe that by equipping donors with the right tools and information to make meaningful giving choices, together we can turn the tide and increase generosity.

Impact of the Election Year

The 2024 election year brought notable shifts in giving patterns, with increased support directed toward LGBTQIA+ charities, women’s rights organizations, education-focused nonprofits, environmental charities, and immigration organizations. These trends reflect a growing desire to drive meaningful change in areas that resonate deeply with donors during pivotal moments in our society.

The following nonprofits saw the most notable donation increases following the election:

• Planned Parenthood: 2,333% 

• ACLU: 1,028% 

• Trevor Project: 2,346% 

• Environmental Defense Fund: 5,774% 

• Center for Reproductive Rights: 853%

• Earthjustice: 1,497%

• Amnesty International: 2,790%

• National Women's Law Center: 1,650%

• Sierra Club: 232%

• Union of Concerned Scientists: 497%

• Oceana: 1,164%

• The National Alliance to End Homelessness: 2,900%

To help donors stay informed and engaged, we’ve highlighted impactful ways to stay engaged beyond the ballot. From volunteering your time and skills to sharing trusted information within your community, there are countless ways to make a difference. Additionally, donating to local charities can have a profound and immediate impact, ensuring that your support reaches the people and communities who need it most.

By staying engaged and informed, we can collectively amplify our efforts and continue to drive positive change in the causes that matter most to us all.

Website Traffic

This year, we experienced a modest decline in overall web traffic compared to the previous year, with a particularly significant drop during Giving Season, especially in organic traffic. We attribute this decline primarily to shifts in offsite Artificial Intelligence (AI) and changes to Google's G4 algorithm, which have affected website performance industry-wide. However, despite this reduction in traffic, the visitors who did engage with the site demonstrated higher levels of interaction and lower drop-off rates, showing that those who visited were more engaged with the content. This shift underscores the critical need to connect with the right audience through meaningful and impactful content.

Charity Ratings Updates

At Charity Navigator, we are committed to evolving our ratings and methodology to provide donors with the most accurate and reliable information possible. Over the past year, we made significant strides in improving how we assess nonprofits. We refined the Impact & Measurement Beacon, offering a new measurement assessment and expanding eligibility to all nonprofits. Our Leadership & Adaptability beacon has also been simplified, reducing the amount of time it takes for nonprofits to submit data for this beacon.

Additionally, we harmonized the presentation of the ratings across our Impact & Measurement, Leadership & Adaptability, and Culture & Community Beacons, ensuring donors have a seamless and clear view of an organization's performance across critical areas.

California's AB 488 legislation, which introduced stronger compliance requirements for nonprofits operating in California and their use of online fundraising platforms, went into full effect in 2024. In response, our team had to adjust our process. We’ve adjusted our alerts process and deactivated our Giving Basket for organizations that are not compliant in California in compliance with the law.

In the News

In 2024, Charity Navigator was proud to be featured across a wide range of national media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, Vox, The New York Times, The Nonprofit Times, and philanthropy-focused podcasts. These appearances provided valuable opportunities to share our expertise and help donors navigate the giving landscape with confidence. Whether it was offering guidance on avoiding scams, highlighting trusted charities during crises and national emergencies, or sharing tips on how to maximize the impact of donations, our team worked tirelessly to support informed and meaningful giving.

We invite you to explore our Press Room to see the full list of our 2024 media features and gain insights into the work we’ve done to empower donors. 

Donor Profile Enhancements

In 2024, we made significant improvements to our site user account profiles to make the giving experience easier and more efficient.

With a personal dashboard, donors can track and manage their donation history, eliminating the need for paper records. We’ve also added the ability to save favorite charities for quick access, helping avoid confusion with similar organizations. Additionally, managing recurring donations is now more straightforward.

Looking ahead, we remain deeply committed to enhancing the donor experience and empowering every individual to make informed, impactful decisions. In addition to continuously refining our ratings and methodology to ensure the highest level of accuracy and relevance, we are actively researching and gathering feedback from our community. This ongoing dialogue helps us better understand what features and tools donors find most valuable and identify opportunities for improvement.

From simplifying website navigation to make it easier to find and support the causes you care about, to evolving our alerts system, every enhancement is designed with our site users in mind. We’re also exploring innovative ways to help donors discover causes that align with their passions.

As we grow, our mission remains clear: to make informed and impactful giving easier for all, so you can focus on what matters most — turning your values into action and creating lasting change.

Giving Basket Improvements

We’ve also enhanced the Giving Basket’s functionality and design to make the checkout process even smoother. With the Giving Basket, donors can easily support multiple charities in a single transaction, streamlining the process for greater convenience. 

In 2024, donors demonstrated incredible generosity, raising more than $46 million and supporting 17,994 charities through Charity Navigator's Giving Basket. With an average donation of $170, the top five causes that received the most support were:

1. International Development

2. Disaster Relief

3. Food aid/Food banks

4. Human Services

5. Health

Curated Lists

With so many options out there, we know that choosing a nonprofit to support can be overwhelming, which is why we’ve focused on making the decision-making process faster and easier. We’ve continued to curate lists in three main categories, in addition to Causeway Funds, to simplify the giving experience: 

• Where to Give Now: Typically created in response to urgent crises or major events, these lists offer donors a curated selection of highly rated charities addressing the needs of affected communities.

• Popular Charities: These lists include the most popular, highly rated charities, categorized by cause area or theme.

• Best Charities: Also categorized by cause or theme, each Best Charities list contains highly rated organizations that our team has identified as some of the best charities in their areas. 

   

Here are the top 10 most visited lists of the year:

1. Hurricane Helene

2. Israel-Hamas Conflict

3. Veterans and Military Service Members

4. Most Followed Charities

5. Women’s Reproductive Health

6. Protect the Environment

7. Hurricane Milton

8. Animal Welfare

9. Women's Advocacy and Economic Opportunity

10. LGBTQIA+

     

Community Choice Awards

The 2024 Community Choice Awards celebrated exceptional work by top-rated charities. Winners were determined in each size-based category by the highest number of votes cast by the public, with more than 74,000 votes.

All nominees and winners share a common achievement: earning Charity Navigator’s four-star rating by demonstrating strength across all four beacons — Leadership & Adaptability, Accountability & Finance, Culture & Community, and Impact & Measurement.

The winners for each category in 2024 were: 

Small: Rainbow Place Shelter for Homeless Women Inc.
Medium: Fellow Mortals Inc.
Large: Center for Biological Diversity
Super: Patient Access Network Foundation

Looking Ahead

Looking back on the past year, it’s inspiring to see how generosity continues to drive positive change. Even as crises arose, people rallied to support the causes that matter most to them, underscoring the resilience and generosity that define our communities.

Charity Navigator remains steadfast in our commitment to guiding these efforts, helping to amplify the impact of every contribution. We’re proud to play a role in empowering these efforts by ensuring donors have access to the insights they need to give with confidence.

Wishing you a new year filled with health, happiness, and generosity,

Michael Thatcher