If it feels like there are more charities found locally than anywhere else in the country, that's because the perception isn't far from reality.
According to Ken Berger, chief executive officer and president of Charity Navigator, the San Francisco Bay Area has a higher concentration of charities than even the region surrounding New York City.
Berger's New Jersey-based company is an online organization dedicated to tracking and evaluating the practices and performances of charities across the globe, and ranking their quality according to performance in categories such as financial health, accountability and transparency.
"New York has most charities in the world," said Berger. "But San Francisco is equal to it, or may have more based on a city of the size."
According to Berger there is no hard data available to back up his claim, but he said that charities favoring San Francisco have had a widespread influence on the surrounding area. That impact is not only in terms of popularity. He said that the Bay Area is recognized within the charity industry as the home of an innovation that is altering the current landscape.
Continuing the legacy of groundbreaking advancement spawned in Silicon Valley, companies in the Bay Area are on the cutting edge of developing a hybrid business model that blends traditional charity practices with an entrepreneurial philosophy, said Berger.
"Creating for-profit businesses that have a social mission; that can do more good with new money because it is venture capital," said Berger, of the new business model.
He said that the industry is changing thanks to the creative spirit of companies that favor methods familiar in the business realm, such as analyzing return on investment.
"It is driving a change to the culture of the way that we help people," said Berger. "Changing the way charities operate, and creating whole new ways of doing it."
Hybrid charities follow how money invested into the business make a difference in the communities that are targeted for improvement. This new method has become increasingly popular over the course of the past few years in the midst of a stagnant economy, said Berger.
He said that now, more than ever, people are looking to get more bang for their scarce dollars.
"Business savvy and skills can make helping others even more attractive," said Berger.
He said impact of gauging such techniques is being felt across the industry.
"If you ask any mid to large sized charity today, if measuring results of performance matters more today than it did 10 years ago? To a person, they would say yes," said Berger.
But according to Berger, not all charities are embracing the change brought forth by hybrid companies.
"Whether they like it or not, they are being forced to change," Berger said.
Despite the new wave of methods and influences, Berger was reluctant to predict that the charity industry would be permanently transformed.
"The notion that you can do good, and do well financially at the same time is enticing," said Berger. "But it may be too early to tell how it will catch on for the long term."
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