NEWS

For Immediate Release                                                             Contact: Charles Pucie
                                                                                                         Foundation for NIH
                                                                                                         301-402-5311

FOUNDATION FOR NIH SCORED HIGHEST IN HEALTH CATEGORY

BY CHARITY NAVIGATOR

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BETHESDA, Md. Aug. 17--The Foundation for National Institutes of Health is the top-rated charity among the 593 health category charities rated by Charity Navigator and, with an overall 69.72 score (out of a possible 70.00), the third highest rated among all 5,327 charities it evaluates, according to the organization’s Web-posted August 2007 evaluations.  Charity Navigator rates charities by evaluating the charity's organizational efficiency, organizational capacity, and overall financial health. 

According to its Web site, Charity Navigator has become the nation's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities.  Charity Navigator's rating system examines how responsibly a charity “functions day to day as well as how well positioned it is to sustain its programs over time.”  The organization aims “to help donors avoid becoming victims of mailing-list appeals, by assessing each charity's commitment to keeping donor's personal information confidential. 

“Our ratings show givers how efficiently we believe a charity will use their support today, and to what extent the charities are growing their programs and services over time. We provide these ratings so that givers can make intelligent giving decisions, and so that the philanthropic community can more effectively monitor itself,” the Charity Navigator reports on the methodology page of its Web site.

Charity Navigator bases its evaluations on the financial information each charity provides in its informational tax returns, or IRS Form 990.  It uses that information to analyze a charity's financial performance in seven key performance categories.  To assess organizational efficiency, Charity Navigator analyzes program expenses, administrative expenses, fundraising expenses, and fundraising efficiency.  Charity Navigator also analyzes organizational capacity based on primary revenue growth, program expenses growth, and working capital ratio.

(During the period evaluated, a high percentage of the Foundation for NIH’s total expenses supported programs and low percentages of total expenses were for administrative costs and fund-raising.  Low fund raising costs were incurred for each dollar of revenue raised.  The foundation spent less than 1 cent of each dollar raised to support its fund-raising activities.  Moreover, the foundation experienced a 73.2 percent growth in its primary revenue over the last three fiscal years cited, and an 87.5 percent growth in program expenditures during that same period.  The foundation had sufficient working capital in reserve to continue operations for an additional four years.)

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health was established by the United States Congress to support the mission of the National Institutes of Health – improving health through scientific discovery.  The foundation identifies and develops opportunities for innovative public-private partnerships involving industry, academia, and the philanthropic community.  The foundation raises private-sector funds for a broad portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities and activities.  The foundation’s Web site address is http://www.fnih.org.

8.17.07                                                                                                  *     *     *