BBB Wise Giving Alliance (WGA)

BBB wga produces about 1,500 reports on nationally-solicting charities based on the 20 BBB standards for charity accountability. Public inquiies help determine which charities are evaluated. Charities can also request to be evaluated. Produces a Wise Giving guide magazine three times per year, which includes a summary list of charity evaluations. Charities that meet all 20 standards are called BBB accredited charities. There is no charge for charity accreditation and the resulting reports are free to the public at give.org. Accredited charities have the option of licensing a BBB charity seal for a sliding scale fee. Of the charities that provide requested information, 70% were found to meet all 2o BBB charity standards and 30% did not meet one or more of the standards.the current name, BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB wga) began to be used in 2001. However, under previous names, the legacy of BBB reporting on national charities dates back to the 1920's.in addition to its long history, one of the key distinctions between BBB wga and other charity monitoring organizations is that it is a standards-based charity evaluator. The 20 BBB standards for charity accountability address, among other things, charity governance, finances, results reporting, transparency and accurate appeals. These standards serve as the basis for rigorous evaluations completed by the BBB wga expert research staff. A detailed explanation of how each standard is applied appears on give.org.bbb wga publishes a magazine three times a year, the Wise Giving guide, that features cover stories on charity accountability topics along with a summary chart of its most current national charity evaluations. Cover story topics in 2022 included cypto-philanthropy, ukraine charity relief, and a donor handbook of basic Giving tips.the give.org website includes a weekly "Wise Giving wednesday' posting that addresses various charity acountability issues, such as advice on Giving to disaster relief organizations and signals of trust for charities. In september 2022, this blog reached 400 postings. The blog also includes a 'building trust' video series which consists of interviews with ceo's of major charitable organizations. During 2022, Wise Giving wednesday featured a series of entries focusing on donations to assist ukraine relief efforts and how to assist ukrainian refugees that fled to neighboring countries. In november 2022, BBB wga released the fifth edition of the give.org donor trust report. This five-year review of trust and Giving attitudes involved an annual online survey of 2,100 adults in the u.s and 1,000 in canada, that explores donor beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions related to charity trust and Giving. Key findings included: during this five-year period, most participants expressed it is essential to trust a charity before Giving, but only 17-20% (depending on the year) report a high level of trust in charties. The portion of respondents that 'highly trust' different types of charities increased for 12 of 13 categories between december 2020 and decvember 2021. The exception was environmental organizations. In june 2022, BBB wga distributed a special edition of the give.org donor trust report that focused on dei (diversity,equity and inclusion). The study found that most participants (54%) assyne that having a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive board and staff has a positive effect on how trustworthy the charity is. In october 2022, BBB wga paricipated in international charity fraud awareness week which represents an international coaltion of government regulators, law enforcement agencies, charities and others seeking to address charity fraud issues. BBB wga distribured donor advice on cybersecurity charity fraud cuations.

In 2022 BBB wga continued givesafely.io this is a secure trust based donation platform for BBB accredited charities (i.e., charities that meet BBB charity standards). It aims to protect donors' personal data by use of the blockchain. Data is only passed on to the charity with the donors' consent. It also enables donors to donate with cryptocurrency. During 2022, BBB wga continued to hold a series of no-charge video meetings with charity executives. This was intended to serve as a virtual workshop series where BBB accredited charities connect and interact with experts and colleagues in the charitable sector to discuss charitable sector issues of interest.the heart of Giving podcast entered its third year of production in 2022. This weekly serieds involves a detailed disucssions with charity sector leaders on various topics such as the motivatations behind what we give and what drove charity executives to a career of service and giving.the advancing collaboration project started in 2017 as an article series created in partnership with stanford social innovation review. These articles sought to encourage charities to seek out new partnerships as a way to reach larger audiences while sharing risk and helping achieve more than an organization can do alone. BBB wga's website provides examples of collaborations from a variety of charities.