UWSWA Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator
United Way of Southwest Alabama’s (UWSWA) sound fiscal management practices and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned it a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. This is the first time that UWSWA has earned this top distinction.
Since 2002, using objective data-driven analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics, focused on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These “Accountability & Transparency” metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity’s overall rating, reveal which charities have “best practices” that minimize the chance of unethical activities and whether they freely share basic information about their organization with their donors and other stakeholders.
“UWSWA’s coveted 4-star rating puts it in a very select group of high-performing charities,” says UWSWA President & CEO Alan H. Turner II. “Out of approximately 1,200 United Ways worldwide only 138 have earned this four star rating and I am proud to state that UWSWA is now one of those. Our 4-star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to our supporters that UWSWA takes their fiduciary and governance responsibility very seriously.”
“It is important our donors trust that we are using our funding wisely to accomplish UWSWA’s mission of improving the quality of life in the community of southwest Alabama,” said UWSWA’s Chairman of the Board and Austal USA’s Vice President of Human Resources Donald Keeler. “UWSWA’s supporters should feel even more confident that their hard-earned dollars are being used efficiently and responsibly.”
UWSWA’s rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge here. More-detailed information about UWSWA’s rating is available to Charity Navigator site visitors who become registered users, another free service.
About Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is the largest charity evaluator in America and its website attracts more visitors than all other charity rating groups combined. The organization helps guide intelligent giving by evaluating the Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency of more than 8,000 charities. Charity Navigator accepts no advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates, ensuring unbiased evaluations, nor does it charge the public for this trusted data. As a result, Charity Navigator, a 501 (c)(3) public charity itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations that believe it provides a much-needed service to America’s charitable givers. Charity Navigator can be reached directly by telephone at (201) 818-1288 or by mail at 139 Harristown Road, Suite 101, Glen Rock, N.J., 07452.