The Zewo-Gütesiegel: a critique

67% of all Swiss citizens who donated more than 200 Swiss francs last year often or always looked for the Zewo seal of approval.

This result of a representative survey shows how great the influence of Switzerland’s best-known seal of approval for donations is on the approximately 2.25 billion Swiss francs donated in Switzerland each year.

This is surprising, but also unfortunate, because the question that should really be at the forefront when donating—namely, where your donation can have the greatest impact—is unfortunately not part of Zewo’s audit mandate. So if you want to know where you can help as many people or animals in need as possible with every dollar you donate, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

But first things first… The Zewo seal of approval was introduced back in 1940 by the Zentrale Auskunftsstelle für Wohlfahrtsunternehmungen (known simply as Zewo since 1990) and, similar to the German DZI- Spendensiegel (donation seal) and the Austrian Seal of Approval for Donations, awards charities that “use donations for their intended purpose, economically and effectively.” Currently, 503 organizations carry the Zewo seal of approval, including well-known organizations such as Helvetas, Pro Juventute, and the Swiss Cancer League.

To obtain it, a non-profit organization (NPO) must undergo a fee-based audit by Zewo. The exact amount of the fee depends, among other things, on the actual cost of the audit, which is charged at an hourly rate of CHF 150, as well as an annual license fee of up to CHF 13,000. The flat fee for the initial audit alone is CHF 2,500, according to the current fee regulations.

Even though we are not aware of any cases in which this conflict of interest has affected the awarding of the seal of approval, we generally take a critical view of the fact that—as is the case with the German DZI—the auditing body is paid by the organizations being audited and is therefore financially dependent on them. The fees Zewo charges for awarding the seal of approval generate 86% of their total revenue.

Above all, however, the Zewo seal of approval is not about finding the best charities but merely about ensuring compliance with the 21 Zewo standards. While these are certainly important standards such as integrity, transparency and efficiency (the latter unfortunately focusing too much on what we consider to be the irrelevant administrative costs), but the specific requirements for compliance are often not very demanding. For example, the particularly relevant standard of effectiveness is already “essentially fulfilled if the organization has defined impact goals and publicly reports on the topic of effectiveness.” Whether the audited donation organization has actually achieved an impact, i.e., whether it has really improved the living conditions of the target group, is not checked by Zewo itself at all. Another indication that the issue of impact plays only a minor role is the fact that none of the conditions imposed as part of the most recent Zewo audits referred to fulfilling the impact standards. Most refer only to standards such as the correct presentation of the annual financial statements and the correct use of donations.

In this respect, Zewo cannot make any statements about cost-effectiveness, i.e., whether the potential impact achieved is really good value for money, or whether donating to another organization could help significantly more people. We view this critically, because numerous studies from global development and health research show that the cost-effectiveness of interventions and organizations varies greatly. The best measures achieve many times the effect of others with comparable resources. However, a review that is essentially limited to compliance with formal minimum standards is not sufficient to identify such outstanding initiatives. And in fact, at least the publicly accessible profiles of certified aid organizations on the Zewo website are not very detailed. Even the presentation of large organizations such as the Swiss Red Cross, which have annual revenues of well over CHF 100 million, is largely limited to a self-presentation of less than 200 words. There is no statement at all on the subject of impact and no further links are provided in this regard.

The evaluation institute GiveWell, whose research forms the basis for the recommendations of Effektiv Spenden shows that there is another way. For example, in this analysis of Malaria Consortium, some of the more than 100 (!) footnotes are already significantly longer than the complete Zewo organizational profiles. In addition to numerous studies, there are also complex calculations that can be used to understand the cost-effectiveness statements.

In addition to the depth of content, the approach taken by GiveWell and Effektiv Spenden’s other scientific partners also differs fundamentally from that of Zewo. We do not pursue the goal of certifying as many aid organizations as possible as complying with certain minimum standards, nor do we have any financial incentive to do so. Our sole concern is to find the best donation organizations worldwide, the test winners, so to speak. In other words, aid organizations where you can not only be sure that your donation will reach its destination, but which have also been rated as outstanding in international comparisons.

This approach means that instead of a list of hundreds of charitable organizations, we present only a handful of truly outstanding initiatives on Effektiv Spenden. Whether it’s fighting extreme poverty, mitigating climate change, or improving animal welfare, defending democracy or safeguarding the future: We feature some of the world’s most effective charities.

Important note: We do not receive any direct or indirect compensation from the organizations we recommend. We are an independent, non-profit organization funded 100% by voluntary donations. From people who believe, as we do, that thoughtful donations can help many more people and animals in need.

You can find out more about our general approach and our partners here and if you have any further questions, you can always book a free session of independent donation advice.