February 12, 2009 

Charity Navigator Gives Highest Rating to The ALS Association

For the second year in a row, The ALS Association has achieved a 4-star rating, the highest ranking possible assigned by Charity Navigator, the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities.

Charity Navigator’s team of analysts concluded that The Association excels in such areas as accountability, responsibility and transparency, essential information that donors can rely on when they contemplate making contributions.

“Based on the most recent financial information available, we have calculated a new rating for The ALS Association,” said Ken Berger, the president and chief executive officer of Charity Navigator, which was founded in 2001 and has assessed more than 5,000 charities. “We are proud to announce The ALS Association has earned, for the second consecutive year, our 4-star rating for its ability to efficiently manage its finances.”

Only 18 percent of the charities Charity Navigator rates have received two consecutive 4-star evaluations, said Berger, “indicating that The Association consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms others charities in America.”

“The fact that people really pay attention to what Charity Navigator has to say makes this rating all the more important,” said Allen L. Finkelstein, chair of The Association’s National Board of Trustees. “When donors give to The ALS Association, they can be assured that they are helping one of the most highly respectable and reputable non-profit organizations in America today.”   

Charity Navigator’s review of The Association can be viewed at on www.charitynavigator.org, a Web site, which is used by more than 4 million donors.