Nutrition charity comparison is emotionally loaded — children, famine headlines, race-to-donate dynamics. A structured framework slows decisions without removing urgency. The goal is not to find a perfect organisation; it is to find one whose claims match verifiable inputs and whose gaps they admit openly.
A six-domain comparison framework
| Domain | What to ask | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical alignment | Do they follow WHO/UNICEF CMAM where treating SAM? | RUTF for stunting slogans |
| Caseload planning | Annual expected admissions vs prevalence source? | Only national prevalence quoted |
| Referral system | Referral made vs arrived rates? | Screening campaigns with no inpatient link |
| Supply chain | Stock-out days last year? | Just-in-time ordering only after media spike |
| Financial transparency | Itemised disbursements with suppliers? | Round numbers, no names |
| Governance | Board, registration, conflict policy? | Anonymous team, no legal entity |
Twelve questions worth emailing before a large gift
- Which malnutrition indicator do you treat — SAM, MAM, or both — and with what admission criteria?
- What were your last reported recovery, defaulting, and mortality rates, and over what sample period?
- How many inpatient beds can you refer into, and what fraction of referrals arrived last quarter?
- Name your last three RUTF or therapeutic food suppliers and approximate unit cost paid.
- How many days of therapeutic stock do you hold at peak caseload?
- Do you run MUAC screening, and what is screening-to-admission conversion?
- How do you handle infants under six months with malnutrition?
- What WASH or infant feeding policies apply in your crisis programming?
- Publish wallet addresses and outflows if crypto — can I reconcile totals?
- What impact do you claim publicly, and what evidence backs each claim?
- What do you not fund yet, and why?
- Who audits or reviews your numbers besides your marketing team?
Extra steps when the charity accepts crypto
Crypto adds custody verification — addresses on official domains, outflow naming — but does not replace clinical questions above. A transparent wallet with opaque spending is a plumbing triumph and a programme failure.
How we want to be compared
HopePlates is young. We will lose comparisons on years operating and lives treated — because we have fewer of both. Compare us on whether we publish wallets, itemise partner payments, distinguish acute treatment from prevention, and refuse inflated impact language. If a larger NGO beats us on clinical scale today, fund them for scale and us for whatever niche we earn — or fund neither until answers satisfy you.
The best nutrition charity for you is the one whose honest limitations still match the problem you are trying to solve.
Due diligence principle
Frequently asked questions
Is lower overhead always better?
No. Underinvestment in logistics, medical supervision, and compliance can raise mortality while lowering admin percentages.
Are large UN agencies always safer?
They bring scale and standards; access and context still vary by country office. Due diligence is not only for small NGOs.
What if two charities work in the same district?
Coordination matters — duplicate OTPs can waste stock; gaps leave children untreated. Ask about cluster coordination participation.
Should I split donations?
Diversification reduces single-point failure; it also increases monitoring burden. Many donors fund one acute and one prevention organisation deliberately.
How do I verify impact photos?
Reverse image search, metadata checks, ask for consent and location context — staged crisis imagery exists.
Does HopePlates publish CMAM outcome rates yet?
We report partner disbursements and operational metrics as we accumulate defensible sample sizes — not manufactured recovery percentages.
Sources and further reading
- Sphere Handbook — humanitarian NGO accountability standards
- CHS Alliance — Core Humanitarian Standard on quality and accountability
- GiveWell and Founders Pledge — public methodology notes on evaluating health charities
- HopePlates — reading-a-nonprofit-transparency-report and what-impact-claims-should-include
- WHO — CMAM programme performance indicators guidance