The seal only means something if it cannot be bought. These are the rules we hold ourselves to.
DonorCARE sells software to organisations, and many organisations on the directory are customers. Nothing changes for them at the seal: being a customer never affects the seal, a check or a review. The directory's default order does give customers a published weight, and says so; you can always sort by seal level alone.
Reviewers work outside sales, declare conflicts on every review, and accept no gifts. Nobody's pay depends on an outcome. Any decision can be appealed in two stages, the second to our external Advisory Panel.
A seal is not a government approval, a licence, or a rating of how well an organisation spends money. What a seal does not mean