We've gone through openly available financial data for all the main charities and assigned a ranking to each one using the system outlined below.
We rate charities by evaluating two broad areas of performance; their Financial Health and their Accountability & Transparency.
Our ratings show givers how efficiently we believe a charity will use their support today, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time and their level of commitment to being accountable and transparent.
Percentage of total functional expenses spent on fundraising (lower is better)
| Converted Score | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| % Spent on Fundraising | 0% - 10% | 10% - 15% | 15% - 20% | 20% - 25% | > 25% |
Amount a charity raises for every €1 spent on fundraising (higher is better)
| Converted Score | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| Spend to raise €1 | > €4 | €4 – €3 | €3 – €2 | €2 - €1 | < €1 |
Percentages of total functional expenses spent on charity work (higher is better)
| Converted Score | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| % Spent on program expenses | > 90% | 89 – 75% | 74 – 60% | 59 – 33% | < 33% |
Average of the last 3 years compared to this year
| Converted Score | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| Growth in Program Spend | > 5% | 5% - 2.5% | 2.5% - 0% | 0% - (2.5%) | < (2.5%) |
| Score | Marks | |
| Fundraising Expenses | 10 | |
| Fundraising Efficiency | 10 | |
| Program Expenses | 20 | |
| Growth in Program Expenses | 10 | |
| Total | 50 |
| Yes / No | Marks | |
| Independent Board Members | 15 | |
| Published Financials Prepared by Independent Auditor | 20 | |
| Published information on salaries of top staff | 5 | |
| Audited financials easy to find from the website i.e. Annual report | 5 | |
| Graphic making it easy to see where donations are going | 5 | |
| Total | 50 |
Combine the scores out of 70 in the Financial and Transparency metrics above in a graph like this to award a star rating to each charity.
| 5 Star | 4 Star | 3 Star | 2 Star | 1 Star | 0 Star |
| 91 – 100 | 81 – 90 | 71 – 80 | 61 – 70 | 50 – 59 | 0 - 49 |