Better Business Bureaus

Better Business Bureaus (BBB) is an organization that ‘checks’ on both businesses and charities. They offer an objective view of different businesses and charities, which they award with their seal, after passing several criteria. Such seals add confidence to consumers and donors who wants to associate with them. Currently, there are 3 million local and national establishments that are being constantly monitored and evaluated.

Better Business Bureaus holds tightly on good business values. Some values that they uphold the importance includes, fairness and honesty, which should be incorporated in business ethics and for charity.

They were first established in 1912. This is a program that will help donors identify legitimate and responsible charities. These charities are evaluated according to a set of standards; reports are then published to aid donors regarding the different charities. The reports are usually within three-year periods. The charity seal is optional to those that have passed the charity standards. The charity standards were developed by several institutions to ensure that the standards reflect those that the public needs.

Information like charity fund allocations, organizational structure, ‘truthfulness’ of their accounts and their willingness to share other basic information about their organization. These are then analyzed to meet the standards. Review the report of at least one charity and discuss what you find. The information included in the reports are: charity contact information and description, Better Business Bureau comments, programs or activities of the charity, governance, including names of the head and their compensation, fund raising methods, financial reports including their budget allocation and tax status.

These are very helpful information in identifying the best charity institutions that the donors would want to help, as well as to define transparency to their current donors. The information are just enough to build the confidence of donors, these should be the basic information, no more and no less. Reference BBB Wise Giving Alliance. (2003). Standards for Charity Accountability. Retrieved March 18, 2009 from http://www. bbb. org/us/Charity-Standards/