1. Make a purchase at thePHAGshop.com
2. During checkout, select a beneficiary for all your purchase PHilanthropy
3. Once selected, all subsequent purchases in 2018 will be tracked by PHAG
4. At the end of the year, PHAG will contribute 15% of proceeds from your purchases to your chosen beneficiary
5. In the new year, you will receive a letter from PHAG confirming the total contribution made to your chosen beneficiary in your name

The five charitable organizations selected by PHAG as beneficiaries of our 15^th Anniversary PHilanthropic Celebration cover a broad spectrum, with tremendous social and community impact:  Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Health, and Human & Civil Rights.  Any National charity selected as a 2018 PHAG Anniversary Beneficiary is among the top-rated charities on either Charity Navigator*, the American Institute of Philanthropy’s (AIP) CharityWatch** list, or both.  Any local charity selected as a 2018 PHAG Anniversary Beneficiary is an organization with whom PHAG has personal experience over the course of their 15 years as an involved participant in the local community.  While some may not meet the fundraising threshold required for national ranking by watch dog organizations, their responsibility and community commitment have been vetted first-hand by PHAG’s leadership team.

Arts & Culture
PGMC- Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus
Charity Navigator- Local:  Not Rated             CharityWatch- Local:  Not Graded
The mission of the PGMC is to entertain audiences, support communities, and foster acceptance through musical performance.  Central to the PGMC’s mission is the chorus’ youth outreach program.  Started through partnerships with community organizations in 2014, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus began performing outreach concerts in local schools, fostering understanding and personal growth in teenage audiences.  Since then, the chorus’ message of acceptance has reached over 9,700 students.  Donations to the PGMC allow the chorus to continue their support of the LGBTQ community and empower young people by providing them the opportunity to enter a safe and affirming environment, free from the threat of harm, regardless of how they self-identify.

Education
SEO- Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
Charity Navigator- 4 Stars                             CharityWatch- Not Graded
SEO was founded in 1963 with a mission to provide talented and motivated young people from underserved and underrepresented communities with access to superior educational and career opportunities. Today, SEO runs three programs: SEO Scholars is an eight-year academic program that gets low-income public high school students to and through college-with a 95% college graduation rate; SEO Career is the nation’s premier summer internship and training program for underrepresented college students, specializing in banking, private equity, corporate leadership, law, and non-profit; SEO Alternative Investments provides education, exposure, training and mentoring opportunities to talented professionals traditionally underrepresented in the alternative investments sector.

Environment
Environmental Defense Fund
Charity Navigator- 4 Stars                             CharityWatch- A-
Environmental Defense Fund’s mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends.  The EDF works to solve the most critical environmental problems facing the planet, focusing on mitigating climate change, restoring the ocean’s bounty, protecting wildlife and their habitats, and safeguarding health. Since these topics are intertwined, the solutions require a multidisciplinary approach, so the EDF works in concert with other organizations-as well as with business, government and communities to avoid duplicating work already being done effectively by others.

Health
EJAF= Elton John AIDS Foundation
Charity Navigator- 4 Stars                             CharityWatch- Not Graded
Established by Sir Elton John in 1992, the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is one of the world’s leading organizations supporting innovative HIV prevention programs, efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, and direct care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Since its founding, EJAF has raised over $150 million to support urgently needed programs across the US and in 55 countries around the globe. Direct services include HIV/AIDS-related medical and mental health treatment, testing and counseling, food distribution, assisted living, social service coordination, and legal aid.

Human & Civil Rights
The Trevor Project
Charity Navigator- 4 Stars                             CharityWatch- A
The Trevor Project is the leading and only accredited national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) young people under the age of 25.  The Trevor Project offers a suite of crisis intervention and suicide prevention programs, including TrevorLifeline, TrevorText, TrevorChat, and TrevorSpace, a peer-to-peer social network for LGBTQ young people. Trevor also offers an education program with resources for youth-serving adults and organizations, a legislative advocacy department fighting for pro-LGBTQ legislation and against anti-LGBTQ rhetoric/policy positions, and conducts research to discover the most effective means to help young LGBTQ people in crisis and end suicide among this very vulnerable population.

*About Charity Navigator:  Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator has become the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Billed as, “Your Guide to Intelligent Giving,” Charity Navigator’s team of professional analysts have developed an unbiased, objective, numbers-based rating system to assess over 9,000 of America’s best-known and some lesser known, but worthy, charities.  The rating system examines two broad areas of a charity’s performance; their Financial Health and their Accountability & Transparency. CN ratings show givers how efficiently a charity will use their support today, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time, and the charity’s level of commitment to good governance, best practices and openness with information.

**About CharityWatch (AIP):  Founded 25 years ago, the AIP is America’s most independent, assertive charity watchdog.  The organization does not merely repeat what a charity reports using simplistic or automated formulas, they dive deep to let you know how efficiently a charity will use donations to fund the programs they were formed to support.  Generally, Charity Watch’s top-rated charities spend 75% or more of their budgets on programs, with $25 or less being spent to raise $100 in public support.  These beneficiaries do not hold excessive assets in reserve, have met not-for-profit governance benchmarks, and receive “open-book” status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to the AIP.