IRC Earns Top Grades in Forbes Magazine

The Forbes 2009 Investment Guide gives the International Rescue Committee high marks for the efficiency of its programs and fundraising.  The magazine’s analysis of the IRC’s financial statements resulted in a mark of 94 percent for “fundraising efficiency” (“the slice of donations left after solicitation costs”) and 90 percent for “charitable commitments” (“how much of total expense went to the charitable mission, rather than management, fundraising and certain kinds of overhead”).

The average score for the 200 large American charities listed in the survey was 90 percent for fundraising efficiency and 85 percent for charitable commitment. 

The magazine also calculates a score for “donor dependency.”  Forbes says, “This measures how badly a nonprofit needs your contribution to break even. We subtract the annual surplus or deficit from gifts, then divide this figure by the gifts. The higher the percentage, the more the charity—well, needed the charity. A result above 100% means the nonprofit ran a deficit. The donor dependency ratio is greatest affected by investment performance and is the most volatile of our measures. This year's average is 60%, way down from last year's 68%.”  The IRC’s donor dependency score was 78. 

To learn more

Read about the IRC's efficiency and results and download our latest annual report [PDF].   

To help

Your generous tax-deductible gift will go twice as far for millions of refugees fleeing violence and devastation in 42 countries around the world. Special friends of the IRC will match your donation dollar-for-dollar through December 31, 2008.