Ways To Give
How to Vet a Catholic Charity
Six public records that tell you whether an organisation is what it says it is — and what the word Catholic does and does not guarantee.
People often want a list of which Catholic organisations are faithful and which are not. We are not going to publish one. Judging whether a named hospital or charity fails Catholic teaching means making public accusations about institutions and their standing with a bishop, and getting one wrong does real harm to real people doing real work.
What we can do is show you how to check, using records that are free, public, and about the organisation you actually care about.
Six checks
Check 1
Confirm the IRS status yourself
Use the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. If the organisation is not listed under the name and EIN it gives you, your gift is not deductible and something is wrong. This takes under a minute and rules out the clearest problems.
Check 2
Read the Form 990
Every 501(c)(3) above the filing threshold files one and it is public. ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer has them free. Look at the split between programme, administration and fundraising — and at executive compensation, which is disclosed.
Check 3
Check standing with a diocese
The word Catholic in a name guarantees nothing; it is not trademarked in any enforceable way. What counts is whether a bishop recognises the organisation. The Official Catholic Directory and the diocese's own listings settle it.
Check 4
For anything medical, ask about the ERDs
Catholic health care is governed by the Ethical and Religious Directives, issued by the USCCB. A genuinely Catholic institution will say plainly that it operates under them. Ask directly rather than inferring it from the name — and note that mergers and joint ventures are where this most often gets complicated.
Check 5
Ask where a specific dollar goes
A serious organisation can name the project, the country and the people running it. Vagueness here is the most reliable warning sign there is, and it costs nothing to ask.
Check 6
Be careful with overhead ratios
A low overhead figure is not automatically good. Organisations working in hard places spend real money on logistics, security and audit, and starving those functions is how money goes missing. Read the ratio alongside what the work actually requires.
Related
Apply the checks to us
The Catholic Connect Foundation is a 501(c)(3), EIN 85-1015384, and files a Form 990 you can read without asking us. We fund feeding projects, orphanages and emergency relief through named priests and sisters on the ground. If the six checks above satisfy you, a gift is tax-deductible.