James, founder of wine companies Lot18 and Snooth, teamed up with Kevin Boyer, who founded Napa Valley winery Boyanci. The two are chairman and president, respectively, of Customvine, a winemaking and marketing company. Customvine has been a supporter of Wine to Water for a while. Last year, James rode his motorcycle 17,000 miles to raise money for the charity.
"If by lending our reputations, we could bring a broader reach [to Wine to Water] and save one life, we'd do it 10 times over again," Boyer tells The Salt.
Wine to Water claims to have provided 250,000 people in 17 countries with clean water since 2004. However, because its revenues amount to less than $1 million, it doesn't warrant an official review or rating from watchdog sites like Charity Navigator.
Sandra Miniutti, vice president of Charity Navigator, tells us that these are some ways an individual can check out the credibility of a smaller charity:
Examine their financial accountability and transparency. Look for an organization's 990 tax form, which they're required to file, for information about financial performance and how much of the budget is spent on programs versus overhead. Miniutti says that on average, an acceptable breakdown is 75 percent programmatic spending, 25 percent overhead. (Here's the 990 form for Water to Wine, if you want to check it out yourself.)
Make sure the charity has at least five independent voting members on its board of directors. This information is also available in the 990 form. "You want to make sure there's independent oversight, not just a CEO reporting to a brother, sister and pal," she says.
Make sure the charity has information readily available on its website about programs and results.
If it's a local charity, pay them a visit. You can also give them a call on the phone to get a handle on whether they're measuring and reporting results.
So the moral of this story? Always ask questions, folks. (You know, like doubting Thomas.)