Operation HOPE Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator for Accountability and Transparency

LOS ANGELES, April 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Financial dignity nonprofit Operation HOPE (HOPE) announced today that its sound fiscal management practices and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned it a 4­-star rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent charity evaluator. This is the first time that Operation HOPE has earned this top distinction.

Since 2002, using data­ driven analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-­star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added a second dimension of Accountability and Transparency (A&T) to its rating methodology, and now reviews 17 governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, providing information on its web site for each of the charities it evaluates. The A&T metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity's overall rating, reveal which charities have "best practices" that minimize the chance of unethical activities and whether they freely share basic information about their organization with their donors and other stakeholders.

"Operation HOPE's coveted 4­-star rating puts it in a very select group of high performing charities. Out of the thousands of nonprofits Charity Navigator evaluates, only one out of four earns 4 stars ­­ a rating that, now, with our new Accountability and Transparency metrics, demands even greater rigor, responsibility and commitment to openness," according to Ken Berger, President and CEO for Charity Navigator. "HOPE's supporters should feel much more confident that their hard­ earned dollars are being used efficiently and responsibly when it acquires such a high rating."

"In the current economic environment, it's important our donors trust that we're using our funding wisely to accomplish Operation HOPE's mission," said President and COO for Operation HOPE, William "Bill" Walbrecher. "Our 4­-star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to our supporters that we take our fiduciary and governance responsibilities very seriously."

Founded by John Hope Bryant in the aftermath of the King Riots in Los Angeles, the nonprofit is focused on financial dignity, inclusion and empowerment for people in underserved communities. Through its core divisions, the organization has provided youth and adult financial literacy, economic preparedness, digital empowerment, promoted home ownership, and assisted with foreclosure prevention to more than 2.2 million individuals, families, and small business owners. The organization is currently focused on Project 5117, a multi-year initiative that will track and increase business role models for youth, boost credit scores for adults, and empower underserved communities.

HOPE's rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on www.charitynavigator.org.  More ­detailed information about HOPE's rating is available to Charity Navigator site visitors who become registered users, another free service.

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 roughly 5,500 mid­-to-­large sized charities that garner roughly 50% of all private contributions made in the USA each year (not including houses of worship). 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 non­profit 501 (c) (3) organization itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations that believe it provides a much­ needed service to America's charitable givers. For more information about Charity Navigator, visit (www.charitynavigator.org).  The office can be reached directly by telephone at (201) 818­1288, or by mail at 139 Harristown Road, Suite 201, Glen Rock, N.J., 07452.

About Operation HOPE, Inc.
Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been providing financial dignity and economic empowerment to turn check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners and small business dreamers into small business owners and minimum wage workers into living wage consumers. For more information more about Operation HOPE visit operationhope.org or follow us on Twitter @operationhope.

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SOURCE Operation HOPE

Related Links

http://www.operationhope.org/