AWF Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator

NAIROBI, KENYA AND WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 3, 2022) – African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) announced today that it has earned a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator, due to its strong financial health, commitment to accountability, and transparency. This is the fifth time that AWF has been granted Charity Navigator’s top distinction over the past decade.

Since 2002, using objective analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics, focused on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These accountability and transparency metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity’s overall rating, reveal which charities operate in accordance with industry best practices and whether they are open with their donors and stakeholders.

AWF CFO Richard Holly said: “Our team is very proud to share this achievement and put a spotlight on AWF’s 4-star rating in 2022. Charity Navigator is among the most-respected nonprofit 'watchdog' agencies in the world. Receiving its highest possible rating of four stars is commendable, and it sends a strong message to our donors, stakeholders, corporate partners, leadership, and staff that AWF adheres to good governance and other best practices that limit the chance of unethical activities, and that we execute our mission in a fiscally responsible way.”

According to Michael Thatcher, President & CEO of Charity Navigator, “AWF’s 4-star rating sets it apart from its peers and demonstrates its trustworthiness to the public.”

“AWF belongs to a preeminent group of charities working to overcome our world’s most pressing challenges. Based on its 4-star rating, people can trust that their donations are going to a financially responsible and ethical charity when they decide to support AWF.” Attaining a 4-star rating verifies that AWF exceeds industry standards in its sector.

Approximately only a quarter of rated charities have achieved this distinction.

Learn more about AWF’s 4-Star rating and charitable giving.

About Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator is the largest charity evaluator in America and its website attracts more visitors than all other charity rating groups combined. The organization helps guide intelligent giving by evaluating the Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency of more than 8,000 charities. Charity Navigator accepts no advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates, ensuring unbiased evaluations, nor does it charge the public for this trusted data. As a result, Charity Navigator, a 501 (c)(3) public charity itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations that believe it provides a much-needed service to America's charitable givers.

About African Wildlife Foundation

African Wildlife Foundation is celebrating its 60th Anniversary. Founded in 1961 to focus on Africa’s conservation needs, AWF articulates a uniquely African vision, bridge science and public policy, and demonstrate the benefits of conservation to ensure the survival of the continent’s wildlife and wild lands. AWF is the primary advocate for the protection of wildlife and wild lands as an essential part of a modern and prosperous Africa.

AWF MEDIA CONTACTS: For interviews and media inquiries contact Patrick Mitchell of AWF in Washington, D.C. at pmitchell@awf.org or 202-991-7508 or Wambui Odhiambo of AWF in Nairobi, Kenya at wodhiambo@awf.org or +254 728 886987.