Tostan has been awarded a
4-star rating from Charity Navigator
for exceptional financial health. A 4-star "exceptional"
rating is given to an organization that "exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in its Cause."
It is the highest rating possible. Tostan’s overall rating of 65.91 on a scale of 70 soundly places it within the 4-star rating category.
Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator is an independent, non-profit organization that provides a concise and accurate guide to enable individuals to make wise and informed donations. Using financial information found in public tax returns, it evaluates charities based on measures of organization responsibility and sustainability. Since its inception, Charity Navigator has evaluated over 5,400 charities.
Tostan’s 4-star rating is based on two measures of financial health: organizational efficiency and organizational capacity. Organizational efficiency considers the ratio of money spent to money raised, and scores are based on allocation of programmatic, administrative, and fundraising expenses compared to overall spending, in
addition to fundraising efficiency. Nearly 85% of Tostan’s overall expenditures fund specific programs, showing that an overwhelmingly high proportion of expenses directly support Tostan's target communities.
The second category, organizational capacity, judges an organization’s capability to sustain long-term growth and looks at its overall financial stability. Ratings are based on the growth of primary revenue and program expenses, and the working capital ratio. A high score represents an organization’s ability to expand and improve programs in the future. Tostan’s success in this area is measured by a significantly higher primary revenue growth (33.4%) than program expenses growth (25.1%), resulting in continued opportunities for growth.
Tostan has pursued its mission of empowerment for sustainable development and positive social transformation since 1991. In that time, Tostan has seen much success resulting from an innovative methodology in combination with dedicated staff, volunteers, and interns, as well as overall program effectiveness. Since its foundation, Tostan has gained increasing recognition for its positive influence in the field of community-led development in Africa. While Tostan has consistently proven effective in its impact through programs focusing on education and a respect for human rights, financial health is an extremely important factor to ensure organizational efficiency and sustainability. This is especially true in times of economic difficulty.
Tostan is grouped within the
International: Development and Relief Services
Cause category, which allows it to be more accurately compared to other organizations that share a similar overall purpose and perform similar types of work. Other charities that share the 4-star label and similar causes include the Global Fund for Children and the Grameen Foundation.
