In April 2010, the Charities Review Council began applying a new set of Accountability Standards to charity reviews.  At the time, many charities held review reports from the Council’s previous set of standards.  As reviews under the past set of standards expire, those charities will have an opportunity to renew and be reviewed under the new Accountability Standards.  

Reports of charities reviewed under the new standards included additional detail available on "tabs" in the charity report. (See right.) In the new charity report, click on the "detailed review" tab to read through how this charity met each of the new Accountability Standards.

The Charities Review Council distinguishes the most trustworthy charities and nonprofits by only recognizing the organizations that complete our voluntarily review and meet all of our 27 Accountability Standards. Reviews, valid for three years, are based on adherence to our Accountability Standards and require a small administrative payment.

A review is good for 3 years.  You can see when a review was completed on the review report as well as when it was last updated by the nonprofit.  It is important to take into account when a review was completed, since it is meant to be a snapshot in time.

When an organizaton meets all of our 27 Accountability Standards, they are granted the use of the Meets Standards seal. The seal is a clear, concise, and accessible indicator of the organization's continued commitment towards accountable and ethical practices.

If you search ALL CHARITIES, your results will include reviewed from the Council's database and un-reviewed charities from the MN Attorney General's Charities Division database. Reviewed charities are noted with the bolded words "reviewed" and will be easily identified by our Meets Standards seal.

Click on the un-reviewed charity name to go to the Minnesota Attorney General's Website, Charities Division for more information (including basic financial data) about the charity.

We provide limited information about unreviewed charities if it is registered with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office database. 

Both the new and previous set of Accountability Standards focus on reasonable expectations of accountable and transparent nonprofits and at the core mirror each other closely. 

The new Accountability Standards reflect demographic, economic, legal, and societal changes.  For example, standards have been added reflecting the growing importance of governance and new standards have been added about protecting donor information.