This Giving Tuesday, many charities and other types of organizations will flood your inbox and social media feeds with emotional appeals. Some of them, however, may not be worthy of your donations. CharityWatch has identified several problematic charities that are fundraising for Giving Tuesday 2025.
Participation in the GivingTuesday campaign is open to any individual, community organization, grassroots group, or business. In other words, even those that are not registered charities or not charities at all may participate and use Giving Tuesday promotional materials. According to the campaign’s FAQ, “all nonprofits, community organizations, registered charities, non-registered charities, and volunteer groups are automatically eligible to participate.” So when you see a charity using the GivingTuesday branding or promotional logo, that does not signal that the organization has been vetted for financial efficiency, transparency, or governance standards. Donors should not assume that participation implies any endorsement or evaluation of the organization’s practices.
Feed the Children
CharityWatch’s investigations have repeatedly found that Feed The Children inflates its reported program spending by booking large volumes of donated goods, often of questionable usefulness or overstated value, while spending most of its cash on fundraising and other overhead. It currently earns a “D” rating on CharityWatch’s “A+” to “F” rating scale for spending only 41% of its cash expenses on overhead, with the remaining 59% going to fundraising costs and other overhead. Past governance turmoil, including leadership conflicts and weak board oversight, has further underscored longstanding issues with transparency and accountability.
Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (MS Focus)
CharityWatch’s ratings of Multiple Sclerosis Foundation have ranged from a C+ to D on our rating scale since we began rating the organization in fiscal 2006. Its current rating of D reflects high fundraising and other overhead spending, and low program spending. In 2024 the charity spent only 50% of its cash expenses on its programs, with the other 50% going to overhead. It cost the charity $51 to raise each $100 in cash donations that year.
Miracle Flights
Miracle Flights currently earns a “D” rating for financial efficiency on CharityWatch’s “A+” to “F” rating scale for spending only 47% of its cash expenses on its programs and for spending $46 to raise each $100 in cash support in fiscal 2024. Its most recently published tax filing shows that its CEO earned over $950,000 in a single year. Miracle Flights also fails CharityWatch’s benchmarks for governance and transparency. In addition, CharityWatch found that as of the end of fiscal 2024 Miracle Flights could continue to operate at that year’s spending levels for 9.8 years without raising an additional penny of revenue. For this reason, its final downgraded rating is an “F” on CharityWatch’s rating scale.
Did you know?
Charities that use Giving Tuesday promotional materials are not vetted for financial efficiency or good governance.
Participation alone tells donors nothing about how responsibly a nonprofit operates behind the scenes.
CharityWatch cautions donors about giving to Mahpiya Luta (formerly Red Cloud Indian School) due to its limited transparency. Because the organization is considered a “church” under IRS rules, it is not required to file financial or governance disclosures with the government, making independent oversight impossible unless the charity makes the choice to disclose its documents willingly. Our most recent inquiry to the organization requesting its audited financial statements and governance information was made in March of 2025. As of November 2025 the charity has not responded to our request.
When CharityWatch was able to obtain Mahpiya Luta’s fiscal 2020 audit through a third-party, our analysis showed that the charity spent only 62% of its cash expenses on programs, earning it a B-minus rating on our “A+” to “F” rating scale.
United Breast Cancer Foundation
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently cracked down on a vehicle donation fundraising operation linked to United Breast Cancer Foundation (UBCF) and Kars-R-Us.com, Inc. The charity was found to have raised more than $45 million between 2017 and 2022, but only $126,815 (0.28 %) was used for the claimed breast-cancer screening mission, according to the FTC.
Despite receiving a near-perfect score in Charity Navigator’s automated charity rating database, United Breast Cancer Foundation has received “F” ratings from CharityWatch since we began rating the group in fiscal 2008. Our analysts determined that the charity spent only 20% of its cash expenses on its programs and a striking 80% on overhead in 2022. We also determined that it cost the charity $75 to raise every $100 in donations that year.
United Breast Cancer Foundation has a governance structure in which one individual has the unilateral authority to appoint members to the charity’s board of directors. This raises significant concerns about independence, accountability, and oversight. According to the United Breast Cancer Foundation’s 2022 tax filing, Audrey Stephanie Mastroianni serves as President and Executive Director and is also the sole member with the power to appoint the organization’s governing body. This concentration of power is especially troubling given that multiple members of her immediate family also serve as officers and directors, creating an environment in which meaningful checks and balances are weakened or absent. When a single person can select the very board responsible for supervising their performance, reviewing their compensation, and safeguarding donor funds, the risk of conflicts of interest, inadequate oversight, and self-dealing increases substantially. Donors should be aware that effective nonprofit governance relies on an independent, engaged board, not one controlled or shaped at the discretion of a single insider.
Wreaths Across America
CharityWatch found that Wreaths Across America paid over $20 million to a company owned by the families of two of its board members. The charity directed more than $20 million in its 2022 fiscal year to a single vendor, Worcester Resources (doing business as Worcester Wreaths), which is owned by the husbands of two of the charity’s board members, creating a clear conflict of interest. Further, the charity reported it did not have an independent audit conducted for 2022 even though its revenue exceeded $30 million, raising transparency concerns. The close familial ties between the charity’s leadership and its largest supplier undermine board independence and the likelihood that spending decisions are being made in the charity’s best interest.
Alternatives
While there are some problematic charities raising money this Giving Tuesday, the good news is that CharityWatch has identified many well-governed and highly efficient nonprofits you could consider donating to instead. Visit CharityWatch’s Top-Rated charities page, organized by cause, and consider giving generously this Giving Tuesday.
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