The Greater Joliet Area YMCA’s strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned it a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. This is the fifth consecutive year that the Y has earned this top distinction. According to Charity Navigator, only seven percent of the charities they evaluate have ever received five or more consecutive 4-star ratings.
As one of the area’s leading nonprofit charities, the Greater Joliet Area YMCA is committed to strengthening local communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. A mainstay in the Joliet community for more than 85 years, the Y brings families closer together, encourages good health, and fosters connections through fitness, sports, fun and shared interests. Through its financial assistance and scholarship program, the Y works to fulfill its mission of ensuring that its programs are available to everyone and no one is turned away due to the inability to pay.
“The Greater Joliet Area YMCA’s exceptional 4-star rating sets it apart from its peers and demonstrates its trustworthiness to the public,” according to Michael Thatcher, President & CEO of Charity Navigator. “Only a quarter of charities rated by Charity Navigator receive the distinction of our 4-star rating. This adds the Joliet Y to a preeminent group of charities working to overcome our world’s most pressing challenges. Based on its 4-star rating, people can trust that their donations are going to a financially responsible and ethical charity when they decide to support the Y.”
Since 2002, using objective 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 operate in accordance with industry best practices and whether they are open with their donors and stakeholders. On June 1, 2016, they upgraded their methodology for rating each charity’s’ financial health with CN 2.1. These enhancements further substantiate the financial health of each four star charity.
