The organizations raising the most on GlobalGiving, and why one name dominates

The organization with the most money raised across the GlobalGiving campaigns we track is GlobalGiving itself. Four campaigns under its own name hold $25.2 million, 46.0% of the $54.8 million raised across all 315 campaigns we track. The next organization on the list, the Afghan Institute of Learning, has raised $1.9 million across 10 campaigns. Any "top fundraisers" list that ignores this gap gives a distorted picture.

The top ten by amount raised

• 1. GlobalGiving: 4 campaigns, $25,179,847 raised, 46.0% of all money raised.

• 2. Afghan Institute of Learning: 10 campaigns, $1,922,626, 3.5%.

• 3. Seva Mandir: 6 campaigns, $1,562,092, 2.9%.

• 4. The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project: 3 campaigns, $1,221,798, 2.2%.

• 5. Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue: 1 campaign, $747,854, 1.4%.

• 6. Develop Africa, Inc.: 4 campaigns, $636,812, 1.2%.

• 7. Women's Microfinance Initiative: 1 campaign, $606,849, 1.1%.

• 8. Wuqu' Kawoq: 1 campaign, $599,525, 1.1%.

• 9. Canines With a Cause: 1 campaign, $587,772, 1.1%.

• 10. Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions: 1 campaign, $533,515, 1.0%.

Together these ten organizations account for $33.6 million, 61.3% of all money raised across these campaigns.

The four campaigns under GlobalGiving's own name

Three of them are called the GlobalGiving Forward Fund, the GlobalGiving Flex Fund and the GlobalGiving Project of the Month Club. At the time of our data, the Forward Fund had raised about $12.5 million against an $11.0 million goal, the Flex Fund about $8.7 million against $9.0 million, and the Project of the Month Club about $3.8 million against $5.0 million. The fourth, The Safer World Fund, had raised about $163,000 against a $250,000 goal. All four are filed under "general" in our data.

Their names suggest funds that pool donations rather than single projects, but FundTracker's data does not show how the money is passed on, so check each campaign's page on GlobalGiving before drawing conclusions. What matters for reading the rankings is simple: these four campaigns are 1.3% of the list and nearly half of the money.

The picture without them

Without GlobalGiving's own four campaigns, $29.6 million was raised across the other 311. The nine organizations below GlobalGiving in the top ten raised $8.4 million between them: 28.4% of that $29.6 million, and 15.4% of the full total. In other words, the long tail matters. Most of the money outside the big four campaigns is spread across many organizations.

Big campaigns versus many campaigns

The list shows two routes into the top ten.

• One large campaign. Five of the ten, from Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue to Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions, are there with a single campaign each, between $534,000 and $748,000.

• Several campaigns. The Afghan Institute of Learning has 10 campaigns, Seva Mandir 6, and Develop Africa and GlobalGiving 4 each.

Per campaign, the Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project's three campaigns average about $407,000, Seva Mandir's six about $260,000 and the Afghan Institute of Learning's ten about $192,000. The totals alone hide this difference.

By campaign title, the three organizations right after GlobalGiving all run education campaigns: "Fast Track Education for Afghan Women and Girls" (Afghan Institute of Learning), "Send a Child in India to School for a Year" (Seva Mandir) and "High Quality Education for Children in Uganda" (The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project). Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue ("Rescue Unwanted and Abandoned Companion Birds") and Palomacy ("Palomacy Rescues & Rehomes Pigeons & Doves") both raise money for birds. The Women's Microfinance Initiative is raising money for "1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa".

What an amount-raised ranking does not tell you

• It measures fundraising, not results. Raising more does not mean an organization does more with the money.

• It covers only the campaigns in our database. An organization may have raised much more through projects that are not in it, and none of that is counted here.

• One campaign can change a ranking. Five of the ten have one campaign each, so a single campaign closing or opening changes the order.

• It is not FundTracker's NGO ranking. Our NGO rankings use an NGO score that reflects how complete an organization's public profile is and how much it has raised through its campaigns. It is not an audit. The scoring guide shows exactly how it is worked out.

If you are choosing where to give

A large total is a reason to look closely at an organization, not a reason to give. Open its campaign page, read what the money is for, and check its own website and published reports. If the organization is small, one campaign may be all of its fundraising on the platform, and that campaign may matter a great deal to it.