buildOn Earns 4-Star Rating From Charity Navigator for the 12th Consecutive Year

STAMFORD, Conn., Jan. 7, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the 12th consecutive year nonprofit buildOn (www.buildOn.org) has earned the distinguished 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent charity evaluator. buildOn earned the coveted rating for their sound fiscal management practices and commitment to accountability and transparency.

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.

"buildOn'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. buildOn'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 is important to buildOn that our partners trust we are using their investment wisely to help break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education," said Marc Friedman, Chief Operating Officer of buildOn "Our 4 star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to our investors that we take our fiduciary and governance responsibilities very seriously."

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

About Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator, www.charitynavigator.org, 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 more than 8,000 charities. 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 501 (c) (3) public charity itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations that believe it provides a much-needed service to America's charitable givers. Charity Navigator, can be reached directly by telephone at (201) 818-1288, or by mail at 139 Harristown Road, Suite 101, Glen Rock, N.J., 07452.

About buildOn: At home or abroad, buildOn's goal is to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. Across the U.S., buildOn empowers urban youth to transform their neighborhoods through intensive community service and to change the world by building schools in some of the economically poorest countries in the world. Since 1991, buildOn has constructed 837 schools worldwide, with more than 107,000 children, parents and grandparents attending these schools every day. For more information, visit www.buildon.org.

CONTACT: Alex Smith
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