Reassessment of Recommended Charity Categories and Re-evaluation Frequency
What was our previous structure?
Summary
At ACE, we strive to improve our Charity Evaluations program every year. One of our 2022 goals for this program was to reassess our Top and Standout Charity categories and the frequency of re-evaluating recommended charities. This goal was especially important to address this year because our number of recommended charities has increased over the last few years. In 2019, we recommended nine charities; in 2021, we recommended 16. If this trend continues, an increasing proportion of our capacity would be used to re-evaluate previously recommended charities rather than evaluate promising new ones.
In May and June, we brainstormed various scenarios for modifying our recommended charity categories and re-evaluation frequency. After discussing and thoroughly considering the respective advantages and disadvantages of each option, we determined that we will:
- Modify the re-evaluation frequency of Top Charities to match that of Standout Charities. From now on, we will re-evaluate all recommended charities every two years.
- Keep our two recommendation categories, Top Charity and Standout Charity, and better clarify what they mean.
- Engage with and get feedback from different stakeholders about modifying the frequency of our Charity Evaluations program in general (e.g., evaluating charities and releasing recommendations every two years rather than every year).
- Continue team discussions about gradually limiting our number of recommended charities, modifying our current recommended charity categories, and/or increasing team capacity in the coming years to evaluate a greater number of charities.
We discuss the main benefits and drawbacks of these changes in more detail below.
What was our previous structure?
In previous years, we re-evaluated and updated charity reviews every year for our Top Charities and every two years for our Standout Charities. We also did not place a definite limit on the number of recommended charities. If we kept this structure, we would have had to re-evaluate nine recommended charities in 2022 and seven or more in 2023.
Some key advantages we identified of this structure were:
- Reviews of our recommended charities were regularly updated, especially those of our Top Charities.
- Our two recommendation categories, Top Charity and Standout Charity, enabled us to differentiate between groups of charities based on confidence levels.
Some key disadvantages we identified of this structure were:
- Due to the greater number of recommended charities, we would have had fewer opportunities to evaluate new charities in 2022 and 2023.
- We have received feedback that the difference between recommendation categories and the re-evaluation frequency of each category is unclear.
- Annual participation in our charity evaluation process can be too costly for Top Charities that have been recommended multiple years in a row.
What options did we consider?
We first considered eight scenarios with different combinations of re-evaluation frequencies (one to three years) depending on factors such as recommendation category (Top or Standout), charity size, outcomes, or regions. We considered limiting the number of recommended charities in some scenarios. Each scenario also included the total number of charities we planned to evaluate over the next three years. After considering each scenario’s potential advantages and disadvantages, we ruled out re-evaluating charities by size, outcomes, or regions, primarily because these characteristics can often change, and organizations could easily move between categories.
We then created four new scenarios, including the option of replacing our Top and Standout Charity categories with a single category with a reduced number of charities. This option was ruled out as well, mainly because we do not want to lose the opportunity to differentiate between two groups of charities based on our confidence levels in the effectiveness of their work and room for more funding. Because this option would also require us to change our fundraising methods, it wouldn’t be feasible to implement it in 2022.
We also considered the following ideas, but dismissed them for various reasons:
- Re-evaluating first-time recommended charities the next year, and then every two or three years for charities that have been recommended multiple times
- Removing our practice of re-evaluating recommended charities, allowing recommendations to expire every two or three years
- Producing abbreviated updates for our recommended charity reviews in the off-years
Although we rejected implementing these ideas in 2022, we expect to revisit them as our Charity Evaluations program continues to adapt to the growing effective animal advocacy movement.
What is the new structure?
The main change that resulted from this assessment was to align the re-evaluation frequency of all our recommended charities by re-evaluating both Top and Standout Charities every two years. This means that we will keep our current recommendation categories, but will no longer re-evaluate Top Charities every year. According to this structure, we are planning on re-evaluating six recommended charities in 2022, and 10 in 2023.
Some key advantages we identified of this structure were:
- By re-evaluating all recommended charities every two years, we will create more room for evaluating new charities.
- Top Charities that have been recommended for multiple years will spend less time undergoing our evaluation process.
- Evaluating all recommended charities every two years increases fairness among them.
- Our messaging regarding re-evaluation frequency will be clearer.
Some key disadvantages we identified of this structure were:
- Because of the larger number of recommended charities, there are fewer opportunities to evaluate new charities in 2023.
- Our Top Charity reviews will not be updated annually.
Following this assessment, we also have plans to:
- Continue discussing possible new recommendation categories and re-evaluation frequencies, as well as limiting (and gradually reducing) the number of our recommended charities.
- Better clarify the distinctions between Top Charity and Standout Charity.
- Further explore the option of reducing the frequency of our Charity Evaluations program in general, e.g., by evaluating all charities every two years, and at the same time. As we have created a new Evaluations Program Manager position, we hope this will afford us more time to implement changes in the near future. We will request feedback from more staff, board members, donors, and recommended charities, and we intend to keep improving the evaluation program for all our audiences.
