Investigate the assurance claims made by a registered charitable organization.

Paper: Assurance at a Charity
The purpose of this assignment is to investigate the assurance claims made by a registered charitable organization. As you read about in Lesson 1 (the United Way of America case), many charities have been the target of fraud, and many have experienced declines in contributions because these frauds have been widely known.
your first step is to choose a charity to write about and register it in the D2L discussion set up for this purpose. The only restriction is that you cannot choose a charity that is discussed in any of my commentaries or the reading assignments. Find something new! You are not allowed to choose a charity that has been selected by another student. Be specific with your choice, for example ‘United Way of Houston’ rather than just ‘United Way’. You cannot choose a nonprofit company unless it is a registered charity.
The other caveat is that you must choose a charity that is in the Top Rated Charity list compiled by Charity Watch. Scroll down from the top of the page the link takes you to and click on any section of the table (for example, “Hispanic” to find suitable choices in a category of charity that interests you. There is certainly something for every taste in this table.
Choose a charity that interests you. That will make it more fulfilling to investigate!
To fulfill the requirements for this activity, complete the following tasks:
Choose a company
1. Enter the name of the company you choose in the Choice of Charity Discussion topic. Do not enter your company as a reply to another posting; enter your company as a new posting. You may not duplicate the choice of another student in the class; choices must be declared through the D2L discussion site. Submit your company choice by the date specified in the course calendar.
Write your paper
1. The first page or so of your paper should discuss your choice, concentrating on the goals of the charity and the ways it spends its donations. Find the the social criteria the organization uses in operations, production etc. Do not just list them, discuss them – why they appeal to you or the general public. How do they choose what they do, what types of things do they do? In your descriptions, please provide links to the charity’s web site.
2. The second page or so should discuss why assurance is necessary for this charity. Address the 3 criteria in the context of this charity and its issues.
3. The remaining two or three pages of the paper should discuss the external assurance provided to prove it is doing as it claims from a charitable standpoint. Your analysis of the assurance should include answers to these questions:
1. Who provides the assurance, and how can you tell they are independent of the company or fund?
2. Why are they qualified to provide the assurance?
3. What proof of this assurance is available (for example, a report)? Please include the proof you find as an appendix to your paper.
4. Assess the quality of the assurance provided. Does the assurance appear to satisfy the needs of a socially concerned investor? Why or why not?
5. Given the apparent level of assurance, would you invest in the fund (assuming you have found a fund with criteria you think are important)? Why or why not?