A number of community members have asked MDF why it is not listed on the Charity Navigator (CN) website with a ranking on our financial stability and use of funds. MDF has been working to fulfill the requirements for Charity Navigator review since our founding, and has been eligible for consideration and ranking by the organization for several years now, because MDF has over 7 years of audited financial statements, very favorable program investment to administrative expense ratios, and annual revenue of over $1M for at least two years.

MDF has contacted Charity Navigator several times to inquire about next steps to getting listed in the organization’s program. Unfortunately, Charity Navigator now requires that nonprofit organizations like MDF drive community members to the Charity Navigator site, request that they sign up on the Charity Navigator website, and ‘vote’ for the nonprofit of their choice, in this case MDF. At the same time, Charity Navigator will not provide information on how many community members need to vote to qualify for ranking, and will not guarantee that once a large number of community members have logged in and voted that the charity will then get included in their website listing and ranked. Charity Navigator also will not divulge what it might do with the contact information it gets from community members like MDF’s that register and vote.

After several communications with Charity Navigator, MDF has decided that it would not be appropriate to ask our community to engage in this registration and voting process, because it is unclear what Charity Navigator will do with your contact information, including whether or not it would sell your information to other organizations, and because there is no guarantee that your efforts would lead to MDF’s ranking on the Charity Navigator site.

We are disappointed that this is how Charity Navigator has decided to evolve its business model. We encourage community members and donors who are interested in accessing third-party nonprofit reviews of MDF to visit Guidestar.org, a nonprofit foundation and nonprofit ranking organization started by U.S. charitable foundations to assist donors; or the California State Attorney General charity regulation website.

Interested community members can also look at the MDF Impact Statement, which is based on independent external audits conducted annually, and the most recent audited financial statements themselves.

Questions? Please contact MDF.