Charitable giving that mirrors your passion
Unleash your inner philanthropist
Donate to any 501(c)(3) organizations and groups of nonprofits, known as “funds”, curated by members of the Bright Funds community.
If you want to bring strategic focus to where you donate, we’ll help you identify the best organizations through our Flagship Funds.
Think of Bright Funds as your charitable giving management advisor helping you be most effective with your donor dollars in the areas that matter most to you.
Each Flagship Fund is backed by institutional research identifying the best nonprofits addressing a social challenge.
Have a cause you would like to support? Start your own bright fund!
How We Choose Organizations For The Flagship Funds
Outsourcing to the experts: We draw from 5 institutional reviewing organizations, which each evaluate nonprofits using a distinct set of criteria.
In order to analyze organizations, we assign a Bright Funds score to an organization based on an assessment from the following sources.
For a charity to be selected for one of the funds, it should have received at least eight (8) rating points.
GiveWell
GiveWell, aka The Clear Fund, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that performs exhaustive work to determine a very selective list of nonprofits working to change the world.
Each charity selected by GiveWell is selected over tens of thousands of other candidates.
Philanthropedia
Philanthropedia, where experts rank the top organizations on various criteria in their survey. For a detailed look at this survey, check out how Philanthropedia ranks non-profits.
Each charity selected by Philanthropedia received the highest relative rankings by a panel of subject matter experts.
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator ranks charities based on two criteria: financial health, and accountability and transparency.
CharityWatch
CharityWatch is operated by the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP). AIP reviews and ranks charitable organizations on numerous criteria including percent spent on charitable purpose, cost to raise a given amount, years of available assets and other criteria, after which each is assigned a letter grade with a + or – designation.
We have selected charities ranked B+, A-, A or A+, and each receives five (5) rating points.
Universal Giving
Universal Giving ranks charities using their trademarked Quality Model™, which includes verification against terrorist lists imparted by the U.S. Treasury Guidelines and in compliance with the Patriot Act, and independent review of finances. Universal Giving also examines NGO track records and management teams in addition to working with a Worldwide Advisory Board of international experts who recommend NGO Partners.
Because Universal Giving’s vetting process is so rigorous, we consider inviting all the nonprofits recommended by UG into one of our funds.