Forbes America’s Top 100 Charities 2025: Full Rankings, Methodology and How to Choose Where to Donate

Forbes’ 2025 America’s Top 100 Charities list ranks the largest U.S. charities by reported private contributions—not the charities that Forbes says are universally the best, most effective or most impactful. The edition was published on December 12, 2025, and the official Forbes Top Charities page remains the definitive source for the full roster.

Use the ranking as a research starting point. Before donating, match the organization to your cause and location, verify the exact legal recipient, review its financial filings and look for evidence of outcomes—not just a high Forbes position or an attractive expense ratio.

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What the 2025 Forbes charity list actually measures

Forbes ranks organizations according to private support. That is a broader category than cash donations from individuals, and it is not the same as total revenue or total money raised during calendar year 2025.

Forbes says private support can include:

• Individual donations
• Bequests and estate gifts
• Donor-advised-fund grants
• Corporate and foundation grants
• Gifts from other nonprofits
• Federated campaigns
• Special events
• Cash, securities, real estate and donated goods
• Quantified donated labor or services, where reported

Forbes excludes government grants, sales and fee-for-service revenue, investment returns, and membership dues when the member receives something of value in return. The methodology is explained in Forbes’ guide to using the Top 100 list.

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That definition explains why a food bank, donated-goods clearinghouse, hospital and international-aid organization can all appear near the top even though their operating models are very different. A large private-support figure shows fundraising scale and donor reach. It does not prove that an organization creates more social benefit per dollar than a smaller charity.

Forbes Top 10 Charities 2025

The following figures are approximately the reported private donations shown for Forbes’ 2025 ranking. They come from a December 12, 2025 release reproducing the Forbes results. Because Forbes uses the latest available fiscal period for each organization, the amounts should not be read as donations received during calendar year 2025.

Source: Direct Relief’s release reproducing the Forbes 2025 results. Percentages are rounded Forbes ratios, not guarantees about how each donated dollar is spent.

Where to find the full Forbes Top 100

The official Forbes roster is the authoritative full list of 100 organizations and provides the individual organization profiles and financial information Forbes makes available. It is preferable to copying a partial list into a static article because the profiles contain organization-specific details, fiscal-year dates and financial fields that are not identical for every charity.

When reviewing the full roster, the most useful columns are:

1. Overall rank
2. Organization name and category
3. Private donations
4. Government support and other revenue, where displayed
5. Total expenses
6. Charitable commitment
7. Fundraising efficiency
8. Donor dependency
9. Highest reported compensation
10. Fiscal year ending

If a field is not displayed for a particular organization, treat it as unavailable rather than estimating it from another year or from a related affiliate.

How large was the 2025 list?

Across the 100 organizations, Forbes reported approximately $66.5 billion in private contributions during the organizations’ most recently reported fiscal periods. That was a 4.4% increase from the previous year’s total.

For context, Forbes compared the figure with approximately $592.5 billion donated to U.S. nonprofits in 2024, using Giving USA data. The Forbes Top 100 therefore represented roughly 11% of total U.S. giving. Even a list with a $66.5 billion combined total covers only a fraction of the nonprofit sector.

The No. 100 cutoff rose to approximately $204 million, a record for the Forbes list. The Wycliffe Bible Translators profile is associated with the cutoff discussion. A high cutoff also explains why many respected local and specialized organizations do not appear: they may be effective but simply do not attract that level of reported private support.

Forbes also reported that 31 of the 100 organizations had at least one employee receiving total compensation above $1 million. That statistic is not, by itself, evidence of excessive pay. Compensation may include benefits, one-time payments and deferred compensation, and the executive compensation year may differ from the fiscal year used for the ranking.

The fiscal-year problem: the 2025 list is not a 2025 report card

Forbes uses the latest available fiscal period for each organization. Most entries cover fiscal years ending in 2024, but some use fiscal years ending in 2025 and some still rely on 2023 data.

Examples include:

• Feeding America: fiscal year ending June 30, 2024
• United Way Worldwide: fiscal year ending June 30, 2025
• St. Jude: private donations for the year ending June 30, 2025
• United States Fund for UNICEF: fiscal year ending June 30, 2023
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America: fiscal year ending June 30, 2023

The 2025 label identifies the edition of the Forbes ranking, not a uniform accounting period. This matters especially when a donor is responding to a recent disaster, policy change, public-health event or funding crisis. A charity’s position can reflect financial conditions from before the event.

What Forbes’ three financial ratios mean

Forbes publishes three ratios that can help a donor understand an organization’s financial structure. They are accounting measures—not direct measures of lives improved, outcomes achieved or cost-effectiveness.

1. Charitable commitment

Formula: program-support expense ÷ total expense

Charitable commitment is Forbes’ estimate of the percentage of total expenses used for the organization’s stated charitable purpose rather than management, general overhead or fundraising.

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The 2025 Top 100 had an average charitable-commitment ratio of 87%. Every organization on the list was above 65%, which Forbes attributes to the bottom of the acceptability range used by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.

A 98% ratio does not mean that 98% of every donor’s dollar produced a measurable outcome. It describes how expenses were classified in the organization’s financial reporting. Program-support spending can include necessary logistics, personnel, technology, compliance and other costs required to deliver services.

2. Fundraising efficiency

Formula: (private donations − fundraising expenses) ÷ private donations

Fundraising efficiency estimates the percentage of private donations remaining after fundraising expenses. Forbes reported a 91% average for the 2025 list—roughly nine cents spent to raise each dollar of private donations.

Forbes has historically treated 70% or higher as acceptable, while the BBB Wise Giving Alliance considers 65% the bottom of its acceptability range. These are reference points, not universal rules. A young charity expanding quickly may spend more to build a donor base, while a large established brand may raise money relatively cheaply but still have weak outcomes.

3. Donor dependency

Formula: (private donations − surplus) ÷ private donations

Donor dependency is more complicated than its name suggests:

• A ratio near 100% means revenue and expenses were approximately equal after considering the reported surplus.
• A ratio above 100% can indicate that expenses exceeded private donations.
• A negative ratio can occur when a charity’s surplus exceeds its private donations.

Forbes reported an average donor-dependency ratio of 68% for the 2025 list, down from 81% the previous year. A donor might prefer a high ratio because the organization appears to need donations immediately. Another donor might prefer reserves and diversified revenue so the charity can withstand a funding shock. Neither preference makes the ratio automatically good or bad.

Why Feeding America ranked No. 1

Feeding America held the No. 1 position for the fourth consecutive year. Its Forbes profile reports approximately $5 billion in private donations, $5.1 billion in total revenue and a 98% charitable-commitment ratio for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.

The major caveat is the composition of that support. Much of Feeding America’s private support consists of donated food and other in-kind contributions rather than unrestricted cash. Donated food is valuable and can be central to hunger relief, but $5 billion in food should not be treated as directly comparable to $5 billion in cash donations to a medical, legal-aid or social-service organization.

Why Good360’s numbers look unusual

Good360 ranked No. 2. It operates as a clearinghouse that routes donated corporate products to charities. Forbes reports approximately $3.2 billion in private donations, along with 100% charitable commitment and 100% fundraising efficiency.

Those numbers are strongly influenced by its operating model. Donated products can have a high reported value while requiring relatively little fundraising expense. As a result, an in-kind organization can appear exceptionally efficient under a ratio designed around reported financial statements.

This is not a reason to dismiss Good360. It is a reason to compare Good360 with organizations that distribute donated goods, not to use its ratios as a universal benchmark for a cash-funded disaster-relief agency or a hospital.

Highest-ranked organizations by cause: use the categories carefully

Forbes’ categories can help donors narrow the list, but they should not be mistaken for an objective ranking of the best organization in each cause. The following are the highest-ranked examples clearly identified in the 2025 highlights, not independent impact winners.

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The supplied Forbes highlights do not establish a definitive category leader for every area, including environment, animal welfare, youth, education, veterans and military families. For those causes, use the category labels and profiles on the official Forbes page, then compare organizations within the same cause. The 2025 newcomers and returning organizations include World Resources Institute at No. 85 and United Service Organizations at No. 92, but neither position alone establishes category superiority.

International-needs organizations in the 2025 highlights

A Direct Relief release reproducing a Forbes international-needs subset lists these organizations. The subset uses overall Forbes rank as well as an international-needs rank.

Source: Direct Relief’s December 12, 2025 release.

International-needs does not necessarily mean every dollar is spent outside the United States. Several organizations work domestically and internationally, and donated goods can make up a substantial portion of reported support. Review the specific program, country and legal entity before giving.

Government funding: rank is not the same as financial exposure

Private-donation rank shows only one part of an organization’s funding mix. Forbes highlighted several international-aid organizations that also relied substantially on government support in the reporting periods used for the list:

• International Rescue Committee, No. 37: $529 million in private donations and $967 million in direct government support for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024.
• Save the Children, No. 43: $470 million in private donations and $497 million in government support for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024.
• CARE USA: $531 million in private donations and $367 million in government support for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.
• World Vision and Catholic Relief Services: Forbes also identified these organizations as exposed to reductions in U.S. international-aid funding.

These figures describe funding exposure, not illegitimacy or poor stewardship. Government funding may pay an organization to deliver public services or implement humanitarian programs at scale. But reliance on government contracts can create vulnerability when budgets, grants or foreign-aid policies change.

Forbes’ accompanying article was published December 12, 2025, and the financial periods above largely ended before the policy changes discussed there. Treat the figures as historical reporting-period information, not proof of an organization’s financial condition today.

Newcomers, returnees and organizations leaving the list

Forbes identified eight newcomers or organizations returning after an absence:

• Atlanta Community Food Bank — No. 96
• Breakthrough T1D — No. 94
• Combined Jewish Philanthropies — No. 83
• Covenant House — No. 99
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes — No. 86
• Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation — No. 42
• United Service Organizations — No. 92
• World Resources Institute — No. 85

They replaced:

• Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home
• Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America
• Metropolitan Opera Association
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital
• Patient Access Network Foundation
• Providence St. Joseph Health
• Teach for America
• United Negro College Fund

Forbes said the United Negro College Fund could return in a later edition after receiving a $70 million MacKenzie Scott gift after the close of its latest reporting period. That was Forbes’ expectation, not a confirmed future ranking.

Forbes’ overview emphasizes these entrants and departures rather than identifying one definitive list of the biggest rank increases and decreases. A rank change can result from fundraising, a large bequest, an in-kind gift, a reporting-period difference or a charity falling below the cutoff. Compare the official editions and fiscal-year notes before treating movement as a change in performance.

Why major organizations may be absent

Not appearing in the Forbes Top 100 is not a negative rating. An organization may be absent because:

• Its private support is below the approximately $204 million cutoff.
• It reports on a different fiscal calendar or has not yet filed the data Forbes needs.
• Its revenue model relies more heavily on government support, fees, investment returns or other excluded revenue.
• It is a local affiliate rather than a national parent.
• It falls outside Forbes’ selection or disclosure rules.

Many colleges and universities, donor-advised-fund sponsors and religious entities are not represented as ordinary operating charities in this ranking. Donor-advised-fund grants can count as private support for recipient organizations, but the fund sponsor itself is not necessarily comparable to a direct-service charity. Forbes also generally avoids religious institutions that are not required to publicly disclose the same financial information, while including some religiously affiliated organizations and notable exceptions such as the Salvation Army.

Those omissions should not be interpreted as evidence that the organizations are untrustworthy. They may reflect the structure of the ranking and applicable disclosure requirements.

Hospitals are a special case: Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic ranked No. 11. Forbes reported approximately:

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• $700 million in private donations
• $22.3 billion in total revenue
• $3.8 billion surplus
• 96% charitable commitment
• 93% fundraising efficiency
• Negative 446% donor dependency
• Fiscal year ending December 31, 2024

Mayo is not financially comparable to a food bank or international-relief organization because most of its revenue comes from health-care operations rather than donations. Its negative donor-dependency ratio occurred because the reported surplus was much larger than its private donations. That does not mean Mayo has no need for donations, nor does it automatically make it a better or worse giving choice.

Hospitals and health systems can also have substantial operating revenue, investment income, capital spending and balance-sheet movements. Compare them with peer hospitals and examine the specific purpose of the gift.

Do not use overhead as your only test

A low fundraising or overhead ratio can be reassuring, but a high ratio is not automatically a failure. Administrative spending can fund compliance, cybersecurity, staff retention, monitoring and evaluation, medical expertise, donor privacy, disaster logistics and program expansion.

Charity Navigator’s overhead guidance warns against treating overhead as the sole measure of quality. Its broader charity-evaluation framework considers impact, governance, transparency, financial responsibility and leadership along with expenses.

The same principle applies to Forbes’ 100% scores. A 100% fundraising-efficiency result means Forbes’ formula produced a rounded result in which fundraising expenses were very small relative to reported private donations. It does not mean there are no administrative expenses, that every dollar reaches a beneficiary, or that the organization has the highest measurable impact.

National parent versus local affiliate

A Forbes ranking generally describes the exact organization that filed the financial information—not every local organization using the same brand.

That distinction matters when donating to Feeding America, United Way, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity or another network. Your gift may go to:

• The national organization
• A local or regional affiliate
• A pooled fund
• A specific program or disaster appeal
• An intermediary that passes money to another charity

A national parent’s private-support total and expense ratios may not describe a local affiliate’s finances, services or outcomes. Before donating, identify the legal entity receiving the money and read that entity’s disclosures.

How to choose where to donate

The right charity depends on what you want your money to accomplish. A donor seeking immediate disaster relief may choose differently from one seeking long-term housing, local hunger relief, evidence-based global health or systems-level environmental work.

Use this donor-vetting workflow

1. Define the goal. Choose the cause, geography and time horizon. Decide whether you want emergency response, long-term services, research, prevention or policy work.
2. Identify the exact legal organization. Record its legal name and, if available, its employer identification number, or EIN. Do not assume that a familiar brand name identifies the entity receiving your donation.
3. Verify tax-deductible status. Use the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. A local chapter, fundraising intermediary or crowdfunding page may not have the same status as the national organization. General IRS charitable-contribution guidance is available in Publication 526.
4. Read recent filings. Review the latest Form 990, audited financial statements and annual report. Look at revenue sources, program spending, fundraising costs, liabilities, reserves and related-party transactions.
5. Look for outcomes. Ask what changed because of the organization’s work, how results are measured, who benefits, whether programs are independently evaluated and whether results are reported over time.
6. Compare peers. Compare food banks with food banks, humanitarian agencies with humanitarian agencies, hospitals with hospitals and environmental organizations with environmental organizations. Do not rank a hospital against a food-distribution network using one expense ratio.
7. Understand restrictions. Confirm whether the donation is unrestricted or limited to disaster relief, research, a particular country, a local affiliate or another program.
8. Check current conditions. Review recent news, regulatory filings, state charity-regulator information, litigation and scam warnings. Historical Forbes data may not reflect a current crisis.
9. Use a verified donation channel. Navigate to the organization’s official website independently rather than clicking an unsolicited social-media or email link.
10. Keep records. Save the receipt, date, amount and exact legal name of the recipient for personal records and possible tax reporting.

Which charity evaluators can supplement Forbes?

Different evaluators answer different questions, so their ratings should not be blended into one supposedly definitive score.

• Charity Navigator: Reviews financial health, accountability, transparency, leadership and results. Its questions for charities can help when an organization is not fully rated.
• CharityWatch: Uses audited financial statements, tax filings, annual reports and related documents to calculate measures such as program spending and fundraising cost. See its rating methodology.
• Candid: Helps donors find and verify nonprofits, including organizational identity and filings.
• GiveWell: Uses an evidence-focused approach emphasizing impact, cost-effectiveness, room for more funding and transparency. Its methodology is designed for donors prioritizing measurable global-health outcomes, not as a general rating of every charity.

These resources can help answer questions Forbes does not attempt to answer: whether a program works, how much additional funding is useful, whether governance is strong and whether the charity is transparent about results.

How to interpret the ranking for common donor decisions

For year-end giving

Start with the cause and the exact recipient, then verify the organization’s tax status and save the receipt. Do not assume that a December donation will appear in the same fiscal-year figures used by Forbes.

For workplace giving

Check whether the workplace platform sends money to the national parent, a local affiliate or a federated campaign. If your employer offers a match, confirm the matching rules and eligible legal entity before selecting the organization.

For disaster relief

Decide whether you want immediate supplies, medical response, cash assistance, recovery or long-term rebuilding. An organization with a high historical ranking may still face a current funding gap—or may already have adequate resources for a particular appeal.

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For local giving

Do not reject a small local food bank, shelter, legal-aid group or community-health organization simply because it is absent from Forbes. Its local knowledge and outcomes may be more relevant to your goal than national scale.

What a higher Forbes rank does—and does not—tell you

Forbes itself warns that ratios should not be compared casually across unrelated types of charities. The central rule is simple: use Forbes to identify organizations worth researching, then judge them against their peers and against your own giving objective.

Bottom line

The 2025 Forbes list is useful because it shows which U.S. charities reported the largest amounts of private support. Feeding America ranked No. 1, Good360 No. 2 and St. Jude No. 3, while the 100 organizations together reported approximately $66.5 billion in private contributions.

But this is a size-and-finance ranking, not a best-charities or impact ranking. The numbers combine different fiscal years, include in-kind goods and use ratios that can look unusual for hospitals and product-distribution organizations. Use the official Forbes list to build a shortlist, then verify the recipient with the IRS, review its filings and evaluate its results before donating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Forbes’ No. 1 charity automatically the best charity to donate to?

No. Forbes ranks the largest organizations by reported private support. It does not rank charities by impact, cost-effectiveness, governance or moral importance. Feeding America’s No. 1 position means it reported the most private support under Forbes’ methodology, not that it is the best choice for every donor.

Are the figures on the Forbes 2025 list from calendar year 2025?

Not necessarily. Forbes uses each organization’s latest available fiscal period. Most entries cover fiscal years ending in 2024, some end in 2025 and some use 2023 data. Check the fiscal-year ending date for the specific organization.

What counts as a private donation for Forbes?

Forbes can include individual gifts, bequests, donor-advised-fund grants, corporate and foundation gifts, federated campaigns, special events, securities, real estate and donated goods. It excludes government grants, sales and fee-for-service revenue, investment returns and certain membership dues.

Does a 100% fundraising-efficiency score mean all of my donation reaches beneficiaries?

No. It means Forbes’ formula—private donations minus fundraising expenses, divided by private donations—produced a rounded 100% result. It does not mean the charity has no administrative expenses or that every dollar creates a measurable program outcome.

Why are colleges and some religious organizations missing from the list?

Forbes’ list has selection and disclosure rules and is not a census of all nonprofits. Many colleges, donor-advised-fund sponsors and religious entities are not represented in the same way as operating charities. Absence from the list is not a finding that an organization is untrustworthy.

How should I compare a local charity with a Forbes-listed national organization?

First identify whether the donation goes to the national parent, a local affiliate or another legal entity. Then compare the local organization with similar local or regional organizations using its own Form 990, audited statements, outcomes and current program information. National statistics do not automatically describe local affiliates.

Are donations to every organization on the Forbes list tax-deductible?

Verify the exact legal recipient using the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. A brand name, local chapter, donor-advised fund or fundraising intermediary may have a different legal and tax status.

What is the best charity for my cause?

There is no universal answer. Define the cause, geography and desired time horizon, then compare peer organizations on outcomes, transparency, financial health, governance and current need. GiveWell can help donors prioritizing evidence-based global health, while Charity Navigator, CharityWatch and Candid provide broader due-diligence resources.

The Bottom Line

Forbes’ 2025 Top 100 is a ranking of charity size by private support—not a definitive list of the best or most effective charities. Use it to find candidates, verify the exact legal recipient and tax status, compare like with like, and review current outcomes and financial filings before giving.

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