The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) Earns 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator

SAN CARLOS, Calif., June 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the fourth consecutive year, the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF), a non-profit, patient-founded, patient-focused and patient driven organization devoted exclusively to eradicating lung cancer, has received a four star rating from Charity Navigator for its strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. ALCF is the only lung cancer foundation to receive the highest rating from America's largest independent charity evaluator.

"Our mission to help lung cancer patients live longer requires financial support to empower and educate patients, fund cutting-edge research, build strategic collaborations and raise public awareness," said Bonnie J. Addario, a 14-year lung cancer survivor and ALCF founder. "Our 4-star Charity Navigator rating demonstrates to supporters that we're using their donations wisely in our efforts to turn lung cancer into a chronically managed disease."

Since 2002, using objective analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics, focused on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These accountability and transparency metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity's overall rating, reveal which charities operate in accordance with industry best practices and whether they are open with their donors and stakeholders. 

"Only a quarter of charities rated by Charity Navigator receive the distinction of our 4-star rating," according to Charity Navigator President and CEO Michael Thatcher. "This adds ALCF to a preeminent group of charities working to overcome our world's most pressing challenges. Based on its 4-star rating, people can trust that their donations are going to a financially responsible and ethical charity when they support the ALCF."

An estimated 155,000 Americans will die of lung cancer this year and another 235,000 people will be diagnosed with the disease. The chance that a man will develop lung cancer in his lifetime is about 1 in 15; for a woman, the risk is about 1 in 17. "Lung cancer kills more people than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined," Addario said. "Our 4-star rating from Charity Navigator gives supporters confidence that their donations are helping advance transformative breakthroughs to improve quality of life and increase survival for the entire lung cancer community."

Organization ratings and other information about charitable giving are available at www.charitynavigator.org. More-detailed information about ALCF's rating is available to Charity Navigator site visitors who become registered users, a free service.

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation
The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) is one of the largest international philanthropies (patient-founded, patient-focused and patient-driven) devoted exclusively to eradicating lung cancer through research, early detection, education and treatment. The Foundation's goal is to work with a diverse group of physicians, organizations, industry partners, individuals, patients, survivors and their families to identify solutions and make timely and meaningful change and turn lung cancer into a chronically managed disease. The ALCF was established on March 1, 2006, as a 501c(3) non-profit organization and has raised more than $30 million for lung cancer research and related programs. The foundation has received four stars from Charity Navigator and has earned the platinum GuideStar nonprofit seal of transparency. For more information about the ALCF please visit www.lungcancerfoundation.org or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

About Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator, www.charitynavigator.org, is the largest charity evaluator in America and its website attracts more visitors than all other charity rating groups combined. The organization helps guide intelligent giving by evaluating the Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency of more than 8,000 charities. Charity Navigator accepts no advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates, ensuring unbiased evaluations, nor does it charge the public for this trusted data. As a result, Charity Navigator, a 501 (c) (3) public charity itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations and foundations that believe it provides a much-needed service to America's charitable givers. Charity Navigator, can be reached at (201) 818-1288, or by mail at 139 Harristown Road, Suite 101, Glen Rock, N.J., 07452.

SOURCE Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation