Charity Navigator
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersGlen Rock, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
Charity Navigator firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Charity Navigator
- Legal name
- Charity Navigator
- Website
- https://charitynavigator.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Charity Navigator industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Nonprofit Evaluation and Charity Ratings
- NAICS
- Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Financial Assistance & Benefits Navigation Services (BPAGAEAK)
Keywords
Where Charity Navigator is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Glen Rock
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Charity Navigator business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Donor Contributions: Charity Navigator operates as a nonprofit organization that accepts tax-deductible donations from supporters to fund its operations. The platform is free for donors to use. Donations can be made through their website powered by Give Lively Foundation.
- API & CSR Enterprise Services: The organization offers API and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) resources for businesses and developers, suggesting revenue generation through data/licensing services to enterprise clients.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free access for all donors |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Charity Navigator product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Charity Navigator is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that evaluates and rates U.S. charities on financial health, accountability, transparency, and impact. It operates a free digital platform where donors can research 245K+ charities, view star ratings under its Encompass Rating System, and donate via the multi-charity Giving Basket checkout. The organization funds itself through voluntary donor contributions and offers API/CSR resources to enterprise clients.
Product overview
Charity Navigator operates as a nonprofit ratings and donor intelligence platform with a portfolio of interconnected products. The core platform provides searchable access to ratings for 245K+ charities using the Encompass Rating System (1-4 star methodology across four beacons). Key products include: the Giving Basket (multi-charity donation checkout), Horizon AI Search (NLP-powered nonprofit discovery), Causeway Funds (curated cause-based fund collections), and Donor Tools (educational giving resources). The Nonprofit Portal serves charity partners with profile management and promotional tools. The platform processes charitable giving data to help donors make informed decisions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Giving Basket: A donation platform that allows donors to support multiple charities in one convenient checkout while controlling personal information sharing with each organization.
- Horizon AI Search
- Causeway Funds
- Encompass Rating System
Products and services
- Charity Navigator Platform The main web platform that provides charity ratings, a searchable database of 245K+ rated nonprofits, and donor resources. Users can discover charities by cause, crisis, or theme and access ratings produced by the Encompass Rating System.
- Encompass Rating System Charity Navigator's methodology for rating charities across four beacons: Financial Health, Accountability & Transparency, Impact & Results, and Leadership & Organizational Culture. Produces 1-4 star ratings to help donors give with confidence.
- Giving Basket
- Horizon AI Search An AI-powered nonprofit search tool developed in partnership with Giving Compass. Uses natural language processing to match donors with nonprofits based on intent and values, providing personalized recommendations and data-driven insights.
- Causeway Funds Curated fund collections of top-rated charities focused on specific cause areas, including funds for Animal Welfare, LGBTQIA+ Support, Climate Change, End Homelessness, and Women's Health & Wellbeing, designed to maximize giving impact.
- API & CSR Resources
- Impact Reporting Network Partnership with True Impact and YourCause (Blackbaud) that enables nonprofits to share impact reports across platforms and improve ratings based on performance data, reducing duplicative reporting burden.
Quantifiable outcome
- $338M+ donated via Giving Basket
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Charity Navigator
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Charity Navigator technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability3 records
Feature4 records
Charity Navigator partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- True Impact and YourCause (Blackbaud)coreFounding partner in Impact Reporting Network designed to reduce duplicative impact reporting for nonprofits. Allows nonprofits to create single outcomes reports shared across Charity Navigator, YourCause, and Blackbaud platforms.
- Giving CompasscorePartnership to develop Horizon AI Search, an advanced nonprofit search tool using natural language processing to match donors with charities based on intent and values, modernizing how donors find nonprofits.
- Give Lively FoundationcoreGive Lively Foundation powers the Giving Basket donation functionality. All donations made through Charity Navigator go to Give Lively Foundation (EIN: 81-0693451), a 501(c)(3) that makes grants to selected nonprofits.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Charity Navigator competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- GreatNonprofits: GreatNonprofits crowdsources reviews and ratings of nonprofits, offering an alternative donor-research tool that competes for attention in the charity-evaluation category with a peer-review rather than financial-metric methodology.
- GiveWell: GiveWell focuses on evidence-based evaluation of a small set of high-impact charities, providing an alternative evaluator model that competes for the same donor-research audience but uses a much narrower, effectiveness-first lens.
Direct peers
- Candid: Candid (formed from the merger of GuideStar and Foundation Center) is the closest direct competitor to Charity Navigator, providing nonprofit transparency data, the Seal of Transparency, and researcher tools that overlap with the Encompass Rating System.
- BBB Wise Giving Alliance: BBB Wise Giving Alliance evaluates charities against 20 standards for accountability and is a fellow charity-rating organization accredited alongside Charity Navigator. The two compete for donor trust and nonprofit accreditation.
- GlobalGiving: GlobalGiving is a crowdfunding platform for nonprofits with vetting and trust mechanisms comparable to Charity Navigator's curation, and serves as an alternative discovery-plus-donation funnel for individual donors.
- ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability): ECFA accredits faith-based and other nonprofits against financial accountability standards, providing a competing accreditation and trust signal — though it focuses on a specific religious segment overlapping Charity Navigator's broader base.
- Giving Compass: Giving Compass is a strategic technology partner of Charity Navigator (co-developer of Horizon AI Search) and an adjacent donor-education and nonprofit-discovery platform that competes for philanthropic-intent audience share.
- Network for Good: Network for Good is a donation platform and nonprofit software provider that was a co-defendant with Charity Navigator in the Alaska fundraising lawsuits. It offers donor CRM, online giving tools, and nonprofit data — directly overlapping with Charity Navigator's enterprise and donor-services plays.
Others
- TechSoup: TechSoup provides technology products, services, and capacity-building resources to nonprofits. It serves a related but different audience (nonprofits themselves rather than donors), and operates in the broader nonprofit infrastructure ecosystem Charity Navigator inhabits.
- Independent Sector: Independent Sector is a national membership organization that advocates for and researches the charitable sector. While not a direct competitor, it publishes sector data and policy positions that influence the same donor and nonprofit audience Charity Navigator addresses.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Charity Navigator social profiles
Digital presenceCharity Navigator compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Charity Navigator financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Charity Navigator leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Charity Navigator funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Charity Navigator M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A2 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Charity Navigator
What does Charity Navigator do?
Charity Navigator is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that evaluates and rates U.S. charities on financial health, accountability, transparency, and impact. It operates a free digital platform where donors can research 245K+ charities, view star ratings under its Encompass Rating System, and donate via the multi-charity Giving Basket checkout. The organization funds itself through voluntary donor contributions and offers API/CSR resources to enterprise clients.
Is Charity Navigator a public or private company?
Charity Navigator is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Charity Navigator founded?
Charity Navigator was founded in 2001. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Charity Navigator based?
Charity Navigator is headquartered in Glen Rock, United States, in the North America region.
How does Charity Navigator make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donor Contributions are the primary driver. The others are API & CSR Enterprise Services.
Who are Charity Navigator's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are GreatNonprofits and GiveWell. Direct peers are Candid, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, GlobalGiving, ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability), Giving Compass and Network for Good. Others are TechSoup and Independent Sector.
Does Charity Navigator have an API?
No public API is recorded for Charity Navigator.
What industry is Charity Navigator in?
Charity Navigator's product category is Nonprofit Evaluation and Charity Ratings. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAKAE, Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries, with a secondary code of BPAGAEAK, Financial Assistance & Benefits Navigation Services. Its NAICS code is 813 and its SIC code is 8300.