San Francisco -- The (No. 4) City of Givers
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San Francisco scraped by with an A for effort in a recent city-by-city ranking of charities' effectiveness. Though city charities' revenue lags behind the national average of 29 other large metro markets, San Francisco is listed as the fourth-most charity conscious after Pittsburgh, Houston, and Dallas by Charity Navigator, a nonprofit that evaluates charities.
San Francisco ranks so well because its charities' revenue growth as of late surpasses the other cities. Essentially, San Francisco's charities are raising more money and spending more money -- and more of it is going toward the charitable stuff they ostensibly exist to accomplish. All of this translates into a higher score.
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Of the 143 San Francisco charities that were analyzed, the Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, and the University of San Francisco earned some of the top scores. No honorable mention for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco -- which made Charity Navigator's dubious Top-10 list of charities with 60 percent or less of all revenue going toward charitable purposes -- and CEOs earning top dollar. CEO John Buchanan, Jr. took home $365,204 this year.
Comparatively, San Francisco charities' administrative expenses are slightly less than the average (that's good; the less spent on overhead, the better). Their assets, however, leave something to be desired.
It's good that a revenue surge is masking city charities' shortcomings, because no one wants to be considered the metropolitan Scrooge. (We're talking to you, Baltimore.)
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