COA recieves Charity Navigator's Prestigious 4-star rating!

Clean Ocean Action received notification today that for the second consecutive time, we have earned Charity Navigator’s coveted 4-Star rating for sound fiscal management. Why blog about it?  First, we have more to say about it than can fit in a tweet.  Second, in a society where skepticism reigns and imitation can be passed off as original, we think it’s kind of nice to have the country’s premiere rating service affirm our success and reliability.

From Charity Navigator:

Only 20% of the charities we rate have received at least 2 consecutive 4-star

evaluations, indicating that Clean Ocean Action consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms most other charities in America. This “exceptional” designation from Charity Navigator differentiates Clean Ocean Action from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust. [okay, the emphasis is mine]

For 27 years, Clean Ocean Action has led the fight to preserve the coastal waters of New Jersey and New York. Since the BP Oil Spill, many other organizations have been drawn to the offshore battles we have been fighting for decades. We welcome their support, but we’d like to emphasize that investing in our close-to-the-ground, grassroots coalition model is the most effective use of your philanthropic dollars.

Regardless of the size of your gift, you want your donations to matter. So, how do you know if your $50 or $5,000 is being put to good use? At Clean Ocean Action there are 2 important ways:

1.  You can see the work we do

• Think of what New Jersey beaches looked like in the 1980's compared to what they are today? Through our Beach Sweeps program, in 2010 alone, 8,000 COA volunteers picked up 450,000 pieces of garbage at 70 sites from Sandy Hook to Cape May.
• Our beaches are also cleaner because of the work we’ve done to increase public support for change at the local, state and federal level (work you may not have seen, but you can certainly see the results).

2.  Charity Navigator’s 4-Star Rating

Have we mentioned that already?  Did you see the part about how COA “outperforms most other charities”?  You get the point.

When it comes to the environment, we hope that you’ll give as much as you can. Every bit is appreciated. But give Clean Ocean Action a closer look when it comes to setting your giving priorities for 2011. Are we in your top three?  Should we be?  

Make a secure donation online, now, at www.cleanoceanaction.org/donations.