Charity Navigator Reviews 

Unfortunately, they are way behind on accurate nonprofit data. They even told my nonprofit that, when we asked for an update, they are months behind with the IRS (Per Matt from the customer service department there). The IRS told my nonprofit they are up to a year behind in posting 990s on the IRS Search tool currently. When I called to ask them to please update it. The Charity Navigator only updates when the IRS posts. So that leaves companies looking to donate to nonprofits not seeing the most up to date / most accurate information for the nonprofits they are looking into. They are getting old data.

On 07-23-2026 This company intercepted my donation to St. Jude's for children with cancer. They make it look like you are giving to St Jude and they say add a dollar to Double your donation. Your donation goes to Charity Navigator not St. Jude. These people are deceptive. I asked for a refund and i got it and i asked them to cancel any future donations and they agreed to do that yet they continue to say i am a donor. When will the nightmare end? Please read below dated 08-02-2026

"Shawn – As a monthly donor to Charity Navigator, you are acutely aware of the importance of informed and impactful giving.

To that end, our team is designing new tools to help millions of donors give with confidence, and we'd greatly appreciate your feedback on two that are currently in focus.

One tool helps you compare charities, and the other helps you set a giving goal and track your progress.

My colleague Jennifer Prelack, our Director of Charity Curation, recorded a quick video to walk you through the two tools.

Click here to watch the short video and provide your feedback.
Thank you for your strong support of making impactful giving easier for all!

Warmly,

Kyle"

I have nothing good to say about these people and now they’re chasing me to try and update my profile. When you have a small animal rescue and it cost much less to do a 990-EZ annual tax return that is completely legal completely allowed includes all the pertinent information and they tell me they don’t accept them? So to get some stupid rating from a company, I don’t even know I have to pay extra to file a 990 and you have to do it for five years. These people need to review what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

Charity Navigator is one of the most valuable resources available for anyone who wants to make informed charitable giving decisions. The website is easy to navigate and provides clear, objective information about thousands of nonprofits, making it much easier to evaluate an organization's financial health, accountability, transparency, and overall impact before donating.

As someone who works closely with the nonprofit sector, I appreciate the depth of information and the commitment to providing data that helps build trust between charities and donors. The ratings and organizational profiles are presented in a way that's easy to understand without oversimplifying important details.

Whether you're a first-time donor or someone who regularly supports charitable organizations, Charity Navigator is an excellent starting point for researching nonprofits and making confident giving decisions. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to ensure their donations are going to well-managed, effective organizations.

Charity Navigator is a great option to donate without having to deal with further promo mail from various charities. I've donated directly to individual charities and even though I requested they not include me on their mailing lists, I still received promo mail for years thereafter. This amplifies if you give to a lot of different charities. CN gives users the option of remaining anonymous to the charity which solves the problem of excessive mailings. A win-win for everyone.

Charity Navigator seems to be comfortable giving charities whose CEOs make salaries in excess of $500K very high ratings.
Sorry, but this just doesn't fit well with the majority of donors who earn no where near $500K. The salary of the CEO of Charity Navigator is in excess of $300K.

Charity Navigator makes it so easy to be charitable. After looking up charities to see their ratings, I can give to multiple charities at the same time without having to write checks and mail them. Saves a lot of time

Charity Navigator is not accurately reporting. We are a reputable and transparent charity, Platinum Guidestar rating, and due to the type of work we do, we do not “fit” their current criteria and therefore our scores cannot be calculated accurately. Charity Navigator is reporting false scores because they cannot calculate our organization’s unique information due to their system’s current shortcomings. We have attempted to enter our organization’s information and are provided a message that they are sorry but their current system is in development and to retry at a later time. We have screenshots of these messages and their inability to provide accurate scores. This has been so frustrating. Charity Navigator is not a one size fits all and we have repeatedly requested they remove us from their database until we can be calculated accurately. They should not be legally allowed to post and share our information when the information they are posting is not accurate. They very well could be hurting our ability to receive much needed funding as we provide essential services to our state and are written into our state’s statutes. Quite frankly, if other reputable non-profits are experiencing inaccurate reporting, this needs to be reported and could result in a lawsuit against Charity Navigator. Evidence of their data base not being able to collect and process our information has been collected. We would very much like to get this resolved and have our organization represented accurately.

Until that happens, we cannot trust in Charity Navigator at this time and their ability to provide true and accurate information.

Charity Navigator is a trusted source of information when choosing a charity that is worthy of donating to. I cannot understand why they have been given a 3.7 star rating on Trust Pilot with all 5 star reviews. What gives?!

Charity Navigator has been an awesome resource in helping me find quality charities I can trust. They provide a rating system that breaks down organizations based on finance, accountability, impact, and results of the organization. It also compares charities providing similar work, so that you can pick the one that is having the biggest impact. This is a game changer for anyone wanting to give back, but doesn't know where to start 🌟🙌