How Givenfold scores charities

Score version 2026.2. Last updated 2026-11-13.

What the score is

The Givenfold financial score runs from 0 to 100. It shows how financially healthy and how well governed a charity looks, based on its own latest IRS Form 990. Higher is better.

It is not a measure of impact. A charity can score high and do little good, or score low and do a great deal. It is not a rating from any other organization. Givenfold works it out itself from public IRS filings, using the rules on this page. Treat it as one input to your decision.

Which charities get a score

Charities that file a full IRS Form 990 electronically. The score uses the newest full return the IRS has published. The app shows the fiscal year each score is based on.

The five parts

Part	Points	Full marks	No points
Program share The share of all spending that goes to the charity's programs	40	90% or more	50% or less
Cost to raise $1 Fundraising spending divided by contributions received	20	$0.10 or less	$0.50 or more
Reserves Unrestricted net assets, in months of spending	15	6 months or more	Zero or negative
Governance Six yes-or-no items from the return	15	All six yes	None yes
Filing recency The age of the return, counted from the end of its tax year	10	30 months old or newer	Older than 42 months (5 points at 31 to 42 months)

Between the two ends, the first three parts scale in a straight line.

The six governance items and their points:

• The financial statements were independently audited: 5 points.
• The board saw the Form 990 before it was filed: 4 points.
• The board is mostly independent: 1.5 points.
• The charity has a conflict-of-interest policy: 1.5 points.
• The charity has a whistleblower policy: 1.5 points.
• The charity has a document-retention policy: 1.5 points.

A missing answer earns no points.

When a part is left out

Fundraising cost is left out when contributions are missing or are under 10% of revenue. Reserves is left out when unrestricted net assets are not reported. The remaining parts are scaled to 100, so the score is still out of 100.

When there is no score

There is no score when:

• the charity files the short Form 990-EZ, or no full Form 990 is available;
• the return does not give an expense split we can use;
• total expenses are zero or missing;
• the program share is exactly 0% or 100%, which usually means all spending was entered on one line.

We show no score rather than guess. No score doesn't mean a charity is a poor choice.

What the score does not tell you

The score does not measure impact or how much good a charity does. It also has known limits:

• Governance answers are reported by the charity itself. Nobody checks them for us.
• Reserves include buildings and other assets that are hard to spend, so treat that figure as rough.
• Small charities that do not need an audit lose those 5 points without doing anything wrong.
• A lower score can mean a charity is investing in its own operations, staff and systems. That is not a fault in itself.
• One unusual year, such as a large grant or a building purchase, can move the score a lot.

Where the data comes from

The data comes from IRS Form 990 e-file data and IRS records of tax-exempt organizations. The IRS publishes returns some months after they are filed, so the newest one can be well over a year old. Public records can contain errors and can be out of date.

Corrections

A charity can ask for a correction or removal by emailing support@givenfold.com. See the support page for what to include.

Disclaimers

Changes to the method

• 2026.2 (November 2026): current version.

Any change to the method gets a new version number and a note here.