UMCOR Receives Top A+ Rating from CharityWatch

CharityWatch, which describes itself as the only independent charity watchdog in the United States, released a report this spring on the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The report awarded UMCOR its highest rating, A+, for the United Methodist humanitarian and relief agency. A link in the source material refers to the report as dated March 2024.

According to the report, UMCOR spends 97% of its cash budget on programming for humanitarian relief, response and recovery work. It also spends $1 to generate $100 in donations. The evaluation covered several factors, including the transparency and audit practices of the organization, the accessibility of its financial data, its governance policies, the governance of its board of directors, and its privacy policies related to donors.

The analysis also included the work of two entities that are wholly owned subsidiaries of UMCOR: the Sager Brown Depot and the Immigration Law and Justice Network (ILJN), formerly known as NJFON. Honest reporting of how funds are used and who oversees them is central to such ratings, a matter of accountability (Proverbs 11:1).

CharityWatch stated the criteria for its top-rated list. Groups on the list, it said, generally spend 75% or more of their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, do not hold excessive assets in reserve, have met CharityWatch’s governance benchmarks, and receive “open-book” status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to CharityWatch.

UMCOR was founded in 1940 and is the global humanitarian relief agency of The United Methodist Church. It is part of Global Ministries and works in more than 80 countries, including the United States and its territories. The agency states that its mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering. Its work centers on disaster response and recovery, sustainable development, and migration, and it responds to natural or civil disasters that overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own.

Source: Read the original report