Highest-rated charities in America

Charity Navigator score: 67.96

The success of the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, featured previously as one of the best charities that get no help from the government, is a testimony to Americans' commitment to support our injured troops as they readjust to life in the states. Donations go to injured Marines (or soldiers from other branches of the military who were injured while supporting the Marines) hurt in post-9/11 conflicts.

With an annual budget of more than $12 million, the organization supports troops during their hospitalization and rehabilitation and provides them with specialized equipment and state-of-the-art prosthetics. One beneficiary of the fund notes in a review on Charity Navigator that the group supported his rehabilitation from paralysis to the point where he is now an elite athlete in Paralympic sports targeting the 2014 games. Not too shabby.

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Charity Navigator score: 68.19

The Spondylitis Association of America, which targets its efforts at a form of arthritis that affects the spine and pelvis, is one of the smallest organizations on the list. With revenue of just over $1.2 million last year (none of which came from the government), the California-based organization might not be able to dispense funds to all sufferers, but the informational materials it provides, in addition to the direct assistance to patients, multiply its reach significantly for a disease that is rarely fatal but can have important consequences for patients' mobility and quality of life.

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Charity Navigator score: 68.43

For five years in a row, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator despite its wildly fluctuating revenue during that time -- evidence of a well-run organization that's good at managing its books.

Based in Washington, D.C., the group uses a two-pronged approach to help reduce teen and unwanted pregnancies in the U.S. On one hand, it uses education and outreach to address behaviors that contribute to the problem. On the other hand, it mobilizes lobbyists and interest groups to ensure that public funds and policies are directed toward the effort. With a strong belief in using data and statistics to guide its responses, the group has been able to generate more than $12 million for each of the past two years.

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Charity Navigator score: 68.52

Its mission is "protecting the Midwest's environment and natural heritage," the Environmental Law & Policy Center says, but it is not just a conservation organization, though it does support plenty of conservation projects. The group also takes more of a market-based approach to sustainable living, promoting clean-energy projects like wind farms and solar installations as solutions for job creation and economic development, in addition to environmental protection. The group's revenue has grown more or less steadily during the past 10 years, and it now manages more than $6 million of contributions.

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Charity Navigator score: 68.73

Often known to people as the "domestic Peace Corps," Teach for America is the largest charity on our list, with revenue of almost $270 million in 2009, the last year for which data are available. Since its establishment 20 years ago, Teach for America has received a significant amount of funding from the federal government (currently roughly 10% of the group's revenue), though that model has been put in jeopardy by congressional wrangling over the federal budget and earmarks. For the time being, even without earmarks the group will be able to apply for the same number of grants from the Department of Education, and a number of groups have come to the organization's defense.

Teach for America's mission is simple: recruit recent college graduates to teach for two years in U.S. schools in generally low-resource areas like rural towns and inner cities. In the 2010-2011 school year, the group supported 8,200 volunteers across the United States.

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Charity Navigator score: 69.12

Featured previously as one of the best charities that receive no help from the government, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation uses donations to support members of the elite special forces units of all branches of the military -- Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, Army Rangers and Air Force rotary and fixed-wing squadrons, as well as several others.

The group's annual revenue (more than $13 million last year) goes to two very specific areas: providing educational scholarships to the children of special forces soldiers who die in the line of duty and helping families of severely wounded soldiers visit their loved ones in the hospital.

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Charity Navigator score: 69.21

Another organization that comes to the aid of soldiers and military families, Homes for Our Troops collects donations and secures volunteer labor to build houses for disabled veterans or to modify existing houses so they are handicap-accessible. Managing revenue of more than $11 million in 2010, the group addresses the struggles of injured soldiers after they leave the hospital and begin to live with their injuries, an area of recovery and rehabilitation that the Veterans Administration addresses through Specially Adapted Housing Grants of up to approximately $63,000, which do not always cover the entire cost of construction. Homes for Our Troops steps in when those grants run out, and the group says it has completed projects in 30 states.

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Charity Navigator score: 69.34

Another military-focused charity, the Navy SEAL Foundation targets an even narrower group than the larger Special Operations Warrior Foundation (our No. 5 highest-rated charity) does, and with revenue of just less than $6 million, less than half of SOWF's receipts. And in many (but not all) ways, the groups' missions overlap.

According to the NSF, "Our programs center around three pillars: health and welfare, including tragedy assistance and family events; education and motivation, including scholarships and tuition assistance; and history and heritage, including the funding of monuments and memorials."

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Charity Navigator score: 69.40

Congress may have passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the beginning of 2010, but a complex law to ensure universal health care is bound to have some holes. To fill them, the Virginia-based Patient Advocate Foundation manages more than $35 million in donations to provide comprehensive support to those struggling with health problems. The group helps the uninsured, disabled patients who need support in the workplace and patients whose medical-related expenses have become unmanageable. And by all accounts, it's doing a great job: After a steep drop in donations from 2007 to 2008 (during a recession, remember), the organization's fundraising in 2010 marked a 50% increase, compared with pre-recession levels.

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Charity Navigator score: 69.42

Featured previously as one of the best charities that receive no help from the government, Give Kids the World uses its revenue (more than $28 million in 2009, the last year for which filings are available) to bring terminally ill children to Florida's famous theme parks, such as Disney World and Universal Studios. The organization even built its own theme park in the area, Give Kids the World Village, to provide its own fantasy vacations for sick children and their families.

With 93.2% of donations going to program expenses instead of administrative or fundraising costs, the organization also is notable for the conservative salary of its president, which is just shy of $190,000 and represents only 0.53% of the organization's expenses.

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