Why We Open Our Books

There is a certain kind of question we love to get. A donor writes in, a little apologetic, and asks some version of: before I give, can I see how you actually spend it? People often soften the question, as if it might be rude. It is not rude. It is the whole point. Money given in good faith deserves to be handled in good faith, and the only way you can know that it was is if we let you look.

So we open our books. Not because a regulator makes us, though the law does ask for plenty, but because transparency is not a compliance chore to us. It is a form of respect. You cannot build trust with a locked drawer.

What does it actually mean to open the books?

Opening the books means more than posting a pie chart once a year and hoping nobody reads the fine print. At its best, it means an organization tells you two things clearly and keeps telling you: where the money went, and what it did once it got there. The first without the second is just accounting. The second without the first is just a story. You deserve both.

In practice, a donor who wants to look closely has real tools. Every registered public charity in the United States files an annual information return with the IRS, the Form 990, and those filings are public. Anyone can read a nonprofit's 990 to see its revenue, its major expense categories, and what it pays its leadership. Independent watchdogs exist for exactly this reason too. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance publishes accountability standards, and Charity Navigator publishes ratings. None of it is a secret. That is the design.

Hope Horizon is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 77-0151434, based at 1001 Beech Street in East Palo Alto. That single line is itself a small act of transparency: it is enough for you to go look us up, independent of anything we say about ourselves. We would rather you check than take our word for it.

Why the "70% rule" is a myth worth killing

Somewhere along the way, a tidy number lodged itself in the culture of giving: a real charity spends at least 70 percent of its money on programs, and anything less is a red flag. It sounds responsible. It is also not a rule, and it never was.

Charity Navigator, one of the largest evaluators in the country, does not use a flat 70 percent line. It uses tiered program-expense expectations that shift with the size and type of the organization, because a tiny volunteer-run group and a large institution simply do not carry the same cost structures. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance, for its part, recommends that an organization spend at least 65 percent of its total expenses on programs and no more than 35 percent of related contributions on fundraising. Reasonable, published, checkable standards exist. A single magic percentage that separates the saints from the frauds does not.

A charity is not good because its overhead is low. It is good because it changes lives, and honest overhead is part of how.

Here is the trap inside the myth. When donors treat overhead as the enemy, they pressure organizations to starve the very things that make good work possible: trained staff, background checks, safe buildings, the boring back office that keeps a program from falling apart. Researchers who study this even have a name for it, the nonprofit starvation cycle, where charities underinvest in themselves to look lean, then cannot deliver, then get blamed for not delivering. A children's program that skips training and safety to shave a percentage point is not being frugal with your gift. It is being reckless with your kids.

So what should you actually look for?

If the overhead ratio is a bad flashlight, what should you point at a nonprofit instead? A few better questions, none of which take an accounting degree.

First, can you find their numbers at all? An organization that makes its financials easy to see has already told you something about its character. Second, do they talk about results as plainly as they talk about needs? Anyone can describe a problem. A trustworthy group can also tell you, with real figures, what changed. Third, do the results connect to actual people in an actual place, or do they float in the abstract? And fourth, when you ask a direct question, do you get a direct answer, or a brochure?

That last one is the quiet test. Try it. Email a nonprofit you are considering and ask something specific about how they spend and what they achieve. The speed and the honesty of the reply will tell you more than any rating badge.

How we try to earn it, in plain terms

We would rather show our work than describe our virtue, so here is some of ours. On a typical day, roughly 120 K-12 students come through our doors, and in the summer about 90 campers a day. Over the last school year, 80 percent of our students improved in reading. After summer camp, 93 percent of campers said they felt more confident. Twelve of our students are in college right now on Hope Horizon scholarships. Our robotics program grew from 21 students to 36 in a single year, and those young people make up East Palo Alto's FIRST Robotics Competition team. None of that happens on autopilot, and none of it happens for free.

We also try to be honest about the setting, because context is part of transparency. In the local Ravenswood City Elementary School District, about 12 percent of students scored proficient or above in English on the state test in the 2024-25 school year, against a statewide figure closer to 49 percent. Roughly nine in ten Ravenswood students come from low-income families. We do not print those numbers to alarm you. We print them because you cannot judge whether a gift matters unless you understand the ground it lands on.

Trust is not a feeling we ask you to have. It is a set of facts we try to hand you.

And when a real photo of a program is not available, or a report is still being finalized, we say so rather than dressing up a gap. Faith is a part of who we are, and one of the plainer things faith asks of an organization that handles other people's generosity is simple honesty. Tell the truth, keep your word, and let people see.

Why we think this is joyful, not just responsible

It would be easy to treat all of this as defense, a way to survive a skeptical donor. We think it is closer to the opposite. Opening the books is what lets giving be a relief instead of a gamble. When you can see where your money goes and what it does, generosity stops feeling like a leap in the dark and starts feeling like what it should be: a clear, glad decision to be part of something real.

A gift given with confidence is a better gift, for you and for the kid on the other end of it. That is why we would always rather you look than wonder. The drawer is open. Come see.

Common questions

How can I tell if a nonprofit is trustworthy before I donate?

Look for organizations that publish their financials openly, such as an annual report or IRS Form 990, and that describe both their spending and their results in plain language. Independent evaluators like the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and Charity Navigator also publish standards and ratings you can check.

Is there a rule that charities must spend 70% on programs?

No. That flat 70 percent figure is a common myth. Charity Navigator uses tiered program-expense thresholds that vary by the size and type of the organization, not a single number. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance recommends at least 65 percent of total expenses go to programs and no more than 35 percent of contributions go to fundraising.

Does a low overhead ratio mean a charity is better?

Not by itself. Overhead pays for the staff, training, and safety systems that make good work possible. A healthier question is whether the organization is transparent, financially responsible within recognized standards, and able to show real results for the people it serves.

How does Hope Horizon show donors where their money goes?

Hope Horizon is a registered 501(c)(3) (EIN 77-0151434) and publishes its results alongside its finances. Recent measured outcomes include 80 percent of students improving in reading over the school year and 93 percent of campers feeling more confident after summer camp. You can always contact us to see more.