Which US charities ranked highest on CharityWatch’s efficiency metrics in 2024?
Executive summary
CharityWatch’s efficiency metric for “Top-Rated” status in 2024 hinges on two hard thresholds: a Program % of 75% or greater and a Cost to Raise $100 of $25 or less, plus governance and transparency benchmarks [1] [2]. Publicly available reporting identifies Direct Relief as among the very highest-scoring U.S. charities under CharityWatch’s system (A+/Top-Rated), while other large international health and child-focused groups such as Save the Children received strong but lower CharityWatch grades (A-), and CharityWatch’s full Top-Rated roster is maintained on its site and updated as audits and filings are reviewed [3] [4] [5].
1. What CharityWatch measures and why it matters
CharityWatch focuses on financial efficiency first: it defines “highly efficient” charities as those with at least 75% of expenditures on programs and a fundraising cost of $25 or less to raise $100, and it adjusts reported numbers for joint costs and related-party transactions to reach its “end calculations” [1]. Those thresholds are applied alongside governance and transparency checks before a charity is placed on CharityWatch’s Top-Rated list, a process CharityWatch says involves degreed accountants and annual updates tied to audits and IRS filings [2] [5].
2. Who topped CharityWatch’s efficiency metrics in 2024 — the named standout
Direct Relief is repeatedly singled out in 2024 reporting as one of the rare organizations that meet CharityWatch’s highest standards and earn the A+/Top-Rated distinction; outside outlets also report Direct Relief achieving near-perfect program-spend and fundraising-efficiency marks in 2024 and note CharityWatch’s A+ rating specifically [3]. CharityWatch’s methodology and public materials characterize groups meeting those numeric thresholds as “Top-Rated,” and Direct Relief is cited in multiple 2024/2025 summaries as a prototypical example of that class [1] [3].
3. Other high performers and the limits of public summaries
Save the Children is reported to have an A- from CharityWatch and to have spent roughly 84% of expenditures on mission programs in fiscal 2024 according to its own reporting; that places it in CharityWatch’s upper tier though not necessarily at the absolute top of the A+/Top-Rated list [4]. Media and secondary summaries also highlight organizations such as MAP International and others as extremely efficient in 2024, but those claims in third‑party writeups should be validated against CharityWatch’s continuously updated Top-Rated list and individual charity reports because CharityWatch reserves some detailed analytics for subscribers and updates ratings as new audits arrive [6] [7] [5].
4. Caveats, methodology debates, and why charity ratings can diverge
CharityWatch’s approach—adjusting for joint costs, related-party transactions and insisting on conservative “end calculations”—produces different outcomes than other raters that rely more on unadjusted IRS-reported numbers or automated algorithms, which is why some charities get high seals elsewhere yet different CharityWatch grades [8] [9]. CharityWatch itself warns donors about presentation differences and emphasizes the need to look beyond simple pie charts; conversely, critics note that financial ratios are only a starting point for assessing impact and that overhead is not inherently bad [1] [10].
5. The practical takeaway for donors and gaps in public reporting
For donors seeking the charities that ranked highest on CharityWatch’s efficiency metrics in 2024, Direct Relief emerges as a documented exemplar with an A+/Top-Rated designation in CharityWatch-sourced coverage, while Save the Children and others received strong grades though not necessarily the A+ top tier; however, CharityWatch’s complete Top-Rated roster and the granular calculations behind each rating are maintained on its site and in subscriber-access reports, so anyone seeking a full ranked list for 2024 will need to consult CharityWatch’s Top-Rated page and individual charity reports for the most current, audited figures [3] [4] [2] [7].