St. Louis – Featured in Talk of the Town

For the last few years, charities as a whole have gotten a bit of a black eye based on what percentage of each dollar raised actually goes toward the mission. In too many cases, too much has been spent on ‘administrative costs’ and CEO salaries, according to some complaints. Well, some are better than others. Based in Ellisville, Assistance League of St. Louis is one of the better ones: Assistance League of St. Louis recently achieved the Platinum Level from GuideStar, the world’s largest source of information about nonprofits and a leader in advancing transparency and accountability in the sector. Fewer than 1 percent of the nonprofit members of GuideStar reach platinum status. One factor in this designation is a financial ratio; the percentage of funds returned to the community. Of the funds raised by the StL’s chapter of Assistance League, 81 percent goes toward identifying, developing, implementing and funding continuing programs to serve the specific needs of kids and adults right here. Another yardstick that shows the lion’s share of the money donated to Assistance League goes toward the needy. Assistance League of St. Louis is BBB-accredited.