Which charitable organizations consistently rank the highest?

Charity Navigator lists Carnegie Mellon University, Compassion International and the Carnegie Institution for Science as three of the more consistently high-ranked charities. Additional high-ranking charities include Brother’s Brother Foundation, JDRF and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, according to Forbes.

Highly ranked charities generally excel in several areas. However, the Charity Navigator awards the highest scores to charities that are more efficient. These are organizations that give more of the money donated to the cause they support, rather than using it to pay employee salaries, advertising or other costs. The Forbes list also ranks charities according to efficiency, but takes into account the quality of the work they do in their fields as well.