There are many ways to evaluate a sports team, a corporation, even a rock band or dance company. Is the most successful organization the one that makes the most money, has a winning record, does the most good for the community, produces a high quality product, or achieves artistic excellence? And even if you could decide which measurements mattered, it is not always easy to quantify the results.
Christian ministries are the same way. How do you evaluate excellence?
Here at MinistryWatch, we have been asking ourselves this question for a long time – for more than two decades. We still don’t know all the answers, but we do know some of the right questions to ask.
That’s what the Donor Confidence Score is all about: asking some of the right questions.
We have identified 20 questions we think donors should ask ministries. We have asked these questions of the ministries in the MinistryWatch 1000 database, and we have given each ministry a score from 0 to 100. If a ministry scores more than 65, we believe it is possible to “Give With Confidence” to this ministry. If a ministry scores from 40 to 64, we recommend that you “Give With Caution.” For these ministries, we recommend that you do a bit of additional research to make sure that you are comfortable with these ministries before you give. If the ministry scores less than 40, we recommend that you “Withhold Giving” from this ministry.
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We have posted the answers to these questions on the profile of the ministry in our MinistryWatch 1000 database. (We currently have 1100 ministries rated.)
Below, we have compiled a list of ministries with a perfect 100 score in our rating system. As you will see, this list has less than 100 ministries on it – less than 10 percent of the total number of ministries in our database. These are all ministries to which you can “give with confidence.”
It’s important to note that this list is dynamic and could – indeed, likely will – change over time. This list is accurate as of March 1, 2024, you should look at the page for an individual ministry to find the “latest and greatest” information about the ministry that interests you. You can find the ministry you’re looking for by clicking here.