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Cara Earns Four-Star Charity Navigator Rating

Cara is honored to report that our strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned us a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. This is the sixth time Cara has earned this top distinction in the past ten years.

“It’s important our donors trust that we’re using their donations wisely to accomplish Cara’s mission to alleviate poverty,” said Maria Kim, President & CEO of Cara. “Our 4-star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to Cara’s dedicated community of supporters our good governance and financial accountability.”

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 Cara currently has a perfect score on and account for 50 percent of our 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, Charity Navigator upgraded its methodology for rating each charity’s’ financial health, which further substantiates its 4-star charities.

“Cara’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 Cara 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 Cara.”

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

About Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator 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.

About Cara
Cara’s mission is to unlock the power and purpose within our communities and ourselves to create real and lasting success. Through our personal and professional development and access to employment opportunities, Cara serves as a leader in poverty alleviation in Chicago and beyond. Since 1991, more than 6,500 people have been placed into more than 10,000 jobs and started on their path to self-sufficiency.

Click here to make a financial donation to Cara.