Methodology and limits
Charity Buddy separates facts, calculations, and judgment. It does not turn a tax filing into a claim about effectiveness.
Sources
Charity identity, eligibility fields, classification, and Form 990 values come from public IRS records (the Exempt Organizations Business Master File and digitized Form 990 extracts, accessed via ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer) or from OrgHunter, depending on configuration. Each profile states its source. Minnesota solicitation registration and the financials charities file with the state come from the Minnesota Attorney General's public charity registry. Important decisions should be cross-checked with the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.
Eligibility language
“Provider lists as eligible” means the returned record indicates eligibility and deductibility. It does not mean the government or Charity Buddy endorses the organization. Absence from Pub 78 is not automatically disqualifying because churches and some group-ruling subordinates can be legitimately absent. Those records are labeled for additional verification.
Financial calculations
Ratios use the latest values returned by the provider. Compensation combines the listed officer compensation, other salaries, pension, employee benefits, and payroll-tax fields when available. A missing field remains missing. It is never silently converted to zero.
Why there is no effectiveness score
Form 990 data does not ordinarily establish beneficiaries' outcomes, causal impact, cost per outcome, program quality, or room for more funding. Administrative capacity can improve impact. Fundraising can grow a successful program. The same ratio can mean different things for a food shelf, hospital, museum, or research organization.
Matching
Matching is deterministic filtering based on the donor's selected cause, geography, size, eligibility, and data-availability preferences. It does not use donation links, commissions, service fees, advertising, or any other monetization field.
Freshness and corrections
Charity filings are retrospective and may appear after a delay. Every profile states when data was retrieved. Corrections should be made at the source first; Charity Buddy does not allow organizations to edit their record or pay to change its presentation.
Continue with the practical charity-checking guide.