SMCH Earns 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator
SEVIERVILLE, TN – Shane Smith, Director of Business and Records for the Church of God’s Smoky Mountain Children’s Home, announced recently that the local children’s home has once again received a prestigious award, the 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. The award further verifies sound fiscal management practices and commitment to accountability and transparency.
Smith went on to say that it was “an honor for Smoky Mountain Children’s Home to earn such a distinction.”
Since 2002, using objective, data-driven analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-Star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics, focused on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These “Accountability & Transparency” 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.
“Smoky Mountain Children’s Home’s coveted 4-star rating puts it in a very select group of high-performing charities,” according to Michael Thatcher, President & CEO of Charity Navigator. “Out of the thousands of nonprofits Charity Navigator evaluates, only one out of four earns 4 stars — a rating that demands rigor, responsibility and commitment to openness. Smoky Mountain Children’s Home’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.”
“It’s important for our donors to trust us and for us to use our funding wisely to accomplish the goal of caring for children and youth,” said Dr. Walt Mauldin, Executive Director. “Our 4-Star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to our supporters that we take our fiduciary and governance responsibilities very seriously.”
Smoky Mountain Children’s Home’s rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on www.charitynavigator.org. More-detailed information about Smoky Mountain Children’s Home’s rating is available to Charity Navigator site visitors who become registered users, which is a free service.
The Church of God Smoky Mountain Children’s Home has a legacy of caring for hurting children dating back to 1920. The ministry has stood the test of time, adapting and developing with the needs of the children in their care. Today, SMCH represents a full complement of services to children and their families. Smoky Mountain Children’s Home becomes a place of development for the children who reside there. It is a place where they are each challenged to become all that God created them to be. The changes that take place within their lives can only be considered miracles! In fact, many of their alumni have gone on to have successful careers as leaders within their communities. ”Since the birth of this ministry, Smoky Mountain Children’s Home has been a haven of hope and healing for literally thousands of abandoned, neglected, misguided, and abused children,” Mauldin stated. “It is a place of . . . Hope, Opportunity, Mentoring, and Encouragement for hurting children.”
