Nonprofit Benchmarking
Compare any charity against its sector across 7 million+ verified nonprofits in 65+ countries. Side-by-side revenue, program-spend ratio, admin ratio, fundraising ratio, executive compensation, and Integrity Assessment.
GiveRadar's Nonprofit Benchmarking tool (giveradar.com/benchmark/) lets you compare any charity against its sector across 7 million+ verified nonprofits in 65+ countries. Compare on six core dimensions: annual revenue (USD-equivalent), program spend ratio (program expenses divided by total expenses), administrative ratio, fundraising ratio, top executive compensation, and the GiveRadar Integrity Assessment (0-100). Filter the comparison universe by country, category (14 normalized categories from health to international development), revenue tier (under 100K, 100K-1M, 1M-10M, 10M-100M, 100M+), employee count, and cause tag. Use the /compare/ page to put two specific charities head-to-head, or use the search filters to identify charities at the same revenue tier and category for fair peer comparison. Sector medians vary widely - religious and direct-service charities tend to spend a higher percentage on program work than research-heavy or grant-making charities (where research and grant disbursements are formally classified differently in Form 990 schemas), so always benchmark within a category rather than across the full population.
What you can benchmark
Six standardized metrics across all 65+ countries.
Annual revenue
Total revenue from the most recent annual filing, normalized to USD where source data is in another currency. Useful for placing a charity into the right size tier before comparison.
Program spend ratio
Program expenses divided by total expenses. Higher is generally better, but the "right" level varies by category - religious organizations and direct-service charities run higher; research-heavy and grant-making organizations report differently.
Admin ratio
Management and general expenses divided by total. Most healthy charities run 5-15%; over 25% can indicate inefficiency or misclassification, but tiny charities may legitimately run higher proportions.
Fundraising ratio
Fundraising expenses divided by total contributions. Healthy charities typically spend 5-25 cents per dollar raised; high ratios are a flag but not a verdict - young organizations and capital-campaign years inflate the ratio.
Executive compensation
Top officer/key-employee compensation from Form 990 Schedule J (US) or equivalent. Useful in context of revenue and sector - $400K is reasonable for a $200M operating budget but a red flag at $2M revenue.
Integrity Assessment
GiveRadar's 0-100 score combining registration, financial transparency, organizational transparency, third-party assessment, community signals, and red-flag penalties. Single-number summary for at-a-glance comparison.
How to benchmark fairly
A meaningful peer comparison holds size and category constant. Don't compare a $200M international NGO to a $500K local food bank.
- Pick the same category. Compare health charities to health charities. Cross-category benchmarks (religious vs disease-research) reflect classification differences more than performance.
- Match the revenue tier. Tiers under 100K, 100K-1M, 1M-10M, 10M-100M, 100M+ each behave differently on overhead and fundraising ratios.
- Match the country. Reporting standards differ - US Form 990 separates fundraising expenses; many EU jurisdictions don't, so cross-border ratios aren't apples-to-apples.
- Look at multi-year trend. One year is noise; three years tells you whether ratios are improving, stable, or deteriorating.
- Read the underlying narrative. The Form 990 Schedule O / annual report explains unusual ratios. A capital campaign or one-off legal expense can move a year's ratio significantly.
Frequently asked questions
How do I benchmark a charity against its peers?
What's a "good" program spend ratio?
Can I compare two specific charities head-to-head?
Are international charities comparable to US ones?
Is the benchmarking tool free?
Benchmark any charity
7 million+ comparable nonprofits across 65+ countries. Free for everyone.