Reflecting its strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency, Direct Relief has retained its “Perfect 100” charity score and a renewed four-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. This is the 11th consecutive year that Direct Relief has earned the four-star distinction.

Among the 160,000 non-profits rated by Charity Navigator in 2021, Direct Relief is one of the 92 on the current “Perfect 100” list of charities earning scores of 100 in both the Financial and Accountability & Transparency categories.

Direct Relief also received 100 out of 100 in two new evaluation categories introduced this year, Leadership & Adaptability and Culture & Community.

“Because Direct Relief receives no government funding, it’s gratifying to share the Charity Navigator recognition with every person, organization, and business that pitches in and is part of the work because it’s about their money and how it was used,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief CEO.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the organization engaged in intensive Covid response efforts while maintaining critical humanitarian assistance to people and areas in severe need even before the pandemic hit them disproportionately hard.

The organization has been the largest charitable supplier of PPE to the US, Africa, and globally since the onset of the pandemic, providing over 132 million units of PPE in its fiscal year 2021 while delivering 237.9 million defined daily doses of medication. Direct Relief also disbursed $56 million in grants in its 2021 fiscal year.

Other highlights include:

• Since January 1, 2021, Direct Relief has donated and distributed over 800 midwife birthing kits to facilitate 40,000 safe births across 10 countries; more than 9 million doses of insulin for children with Type 1 diabetes across 24 countries; and more than 687,000 doses of naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, to organizations throughout the US; and delivered baby formula and other staples for pregnant women, new mothers, and infants to newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
• In March 2021, Direct Relief announced the formation of its Fund for Health Equity with an initial $75 million in funding to improve access to health care in communities in which the effects of historic racism and socioeconomic disparities persist. Since then, Direct Relief has granted more than $10 million to 50 organizations advancing health equity across the US.
• Direct Relief in 2021 nearly tripled its capacity to distribute cold chain medicine requiring refrigeration, including Covid-19 antibody treatments, insulin for children with Type 1 diabetes, and advanced chemotherapy medicine to treat pediatric cancer patients.
• Expansive emergency responses to natural disasters including the Haiti earthquake, California wildfires and Hurricane Ida, among others.
• Extensive, ongoing charitable support to over 2,000 community health centers and free & charitable clinics across the US with donations of essential medications for patients without insurance or means to pay. 

Since sending its first medical aid shipment in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, Direct Relief has supported healthcare organizations in 56 US states and territories and 106 countries with $3 billion in medicine and medical supplies totaling 13,700,000 lbs., more than 8 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, and $107.5 million in cash funding.

Charity Navigator’s Financial score reflects measures of stability, efficiency, and sustainability. At Direct Relief, 99.4 cents out of every donated dollar goes to program expenses, with 0.3 cents going to administration and 0.1 cents covering fundraising expenses.

The organization does not spend donor contributions to cover its traditionally modest fundraising expenses, which are paid by earnings on bequests and held in a separate foundation. 

In fiscal year 2021, the organization incurred fundraising expenses of $3.4 million and received $174 million in public cash support and $1.7 billion in contributed goods (primarily prescription medications and medical supplies) and services, such as donated transportation from FedEx.

Direct Relief’s Charity Navigator rating is available at https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/951831116.