Charity Navigator, America’s top independent nonprofit evaluator, has awarded Direct Relief a 2023 nonprofit rating of 100% for its impact, efficiency, and transparency.

This recognition marks Direct Relief’s 13th consecutive four-star rating and the first time it has been evaluated in Charity Navigator’s Impact & Results beacon, where its 100% rating contributed to an overall perfect score across the key nonprofit performance indicators Charity Navigator assesses.

Charity Navigator introduced the Impact & Results beacon to gauge the “actual impact a charity has on the lives of those it serves and determine whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.”

At the date of publication, only 2,202 or 1% of the 209,155 charities scored by Charity Navigator have earned an Impact & Results rating.

Direct Relief also earned a 100% score in Charity Navigator’s newly updated Accountability & Finance beacon, which assesses “a charity’s financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.”

“We are delighted to provide Direct Relief with third-party accreditation that validates their operational excellence,” said Michael Thatcher, President and CEO of Charity Navigator. “The Four-Star Rating is the highest possible rating an organization can achieve. We are eager to see the good work that Direct Relief is able to accomplish in the years ahead.”

Reflecting Direct Relief’s key role in delivering humanitarian medical aid in response to disasters, Charity Navigator in 2023 named Direct Relief to its list of the best Humanitarian Relief Charities and among the charities it recommended donating to after disasters, including the Maui Wildfire, Flooding in Libya, Hurricane Idalia, Tropical Storm Hilary, and the earthquakes in Morocco, Turkey and Syria.

In addition to its responses to the specific disasters noted above, Direct Relief in 2023 has:

• Delivered 458 million defined daily doses of medicine to more than 2,300 healthcare facilities in 87 countries, including all 50 U.S. states.
• Donated insulin to 40,332 children with Type 1 diabetes in 32 countries.
• Provided more than 460,000 doses of lifesaving naloxone to health centers, free clinics, community organizations and harm reduction groups.
• Delivered critical rare disease therapies to treat more than 600 patients in 17 countries.
• Launched projects to provide resilient energy solutions to 41 healthcare facilities in California, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina, projected to yield an estimated $4.3 million in cost savings annually.

Operational Efficiency & Transparency

Direct Relief, which is funded entirely by private charitable contributions and does not accept government support, prioritizes operational efficiency through strategic partnerships with businesses and organizations. The vast majority of the donations it receives and distributes consist of in-kind donations of medicine and medical supplies. These contributions, valued at their wholesale cost, comprise the predominant share of the organization’s annual revenue, with approximately 99.5 cents out of every donated dollar going to program expenses, 0.3 cents to administration and 0.1 cents to fundraising expenses.

Direct Relief seeks to be efficient and frugal in all organizational activities, including fundraising activities.

While Direct Relief’s modest fundraising expenses average about 2 percent of its total cash revenue, its fundraising expenses are paid by the earnings from a generous bequest, meaning zero percent of donated funds support the organization’s fundraising activities.