News Release

Carnegie gets excellent ratings for fiscal management

Business Announcement

Carnegie Institution for Science

Washington, D.C. The Carnegie Institution received the highest rating for sound fiscal management—four stars—from Charity Navigator for the eighth year running. Charity Navigator is America's largest charity evaluator. Only four organizations out of 5,381 have received that rating eight years running.* Standard & Poor's (S&P) also just affirmed Carnegie's credit rating of AA+, its second highest rating. Carnegie was upgraded to AA+ from AA in 2002 by S&P and it has never been downgraded.

"We are very pleased about both of these evaluations," commented Richard Meserve, Carnegie president. "It is particularly challenging to maintain this level of fiscal capability in these economically difficult times."

Charity Navigator's rating system looks at how responsibly an organization functions on a day to day basis, as well as how well it will be able to sustain programs over time. It bases its analyses on the financial information each charity provides annually in its informational tax return, (IRS Forms 990). During the last year, Carnegie spent 85.8% of its budget on its scientific programs, 12.6% on administration, and 1.5% on fundraising.

S&P's credit rating provides an independent evaluation of Carnegie's overall financial capacity. In reaching this opinion, S&P has recently conducted an assessment of Carnegie's capacity and willingness to meet its financial commitments as they come due. By reaffirming the AA+ rating, the S&P has determined that Carnegie's capacity to meet its financial commitments remains very strong even in this difficult financial climate. S&P has indicated that the current rating is based on Carnegie's sizable endowment, considerable financial resources, low debt level and manageable debt burden, and budgetary flexibility.

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*Carnegie's ranking is partially due to the fact that few organizations have been reviewed for eight consecutive years.

The Carnegie Institution for Science (www.CIW.edu) has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research since 1902. It is a private, nonprofit organization with six research departments throughout the U.S. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.

For more about Charity Navigator see http://www.charitynavigator.org/


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