Tzedakah Organizations Under The Microscope

Iv'e always asked why there are a million orginizations that do the same charity work Why is it that they don't work together and create one big orginization? wouldn't it be more effective? After reading this article it all makes sense!
Brooklyn, NY - A handful of Brooklyn-based charities are concerned more about their own bottom line than they are about those who may have hit rock bottom, according to an independent charity evaluating organization. The group, Charity Navigator, recently released ratings for some 5,000 large charities nationwide. Thirty-eight Brooklyn charities made the list, which assigns efficiency ratings from four stars, awarded to the most efficient, to zero stars, to those performing far below industry standards. Four Brooklyn charities received zero stars, including: Heritage for the Blind; National Children’s Leukemia Foundation; Yad L’Achim Peyle Israel; and Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund. “There’s no need to invest money in a group that isn’t as efficient as possible,” said Sandra Miniutti, vice president of marketing at Charity Navigator, a New Jersey-based group established in 2002. “It is a very competitive marketplace and there are hundreds of charities with the same mission,” she added. “Donors should be upset to learn that if they give $100, only $33 of that, for example, is going to a charity’s mission,” she said. The stated goal of Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund, located at 1319 51st Street, is to help children and adults stricken with cancer. According to Charity Navigator, which uses publicly available information to make its determinations, Zichron Shlome had a total revenue of $976,600 in fiscal year ending December 2005. Meanwhile, it spent $338,667 on program services, and nearly equal that on its own administrative expenses, $311,979. The group’s fundraising expenses totaled $359,003.