You would think that after 20 years of raising money for the rainforest, Sting would be getting some respect for his efforts. Tomorrow night he'll celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Rainforest Foundation, which he started with his wife Trudie Styler in 1989, with a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring guests such as Feist, Billy Joel and Brian Wilson (a member of the Beach Boys).

Unfortunately for Sting, Charity Navigator isn't so impressed the Rainforest Foundation. The watchdog group has given the US branch of the charity a zero-star rating out of a possible four for three years in a row. The last assessment was completed in 2006 and the foundation ended up lumped in with under two per cent of all monitored charities that receive no stars.. Charity Navigator says that only 60 per cent of the foundation's funds were spent on programs actually on the ground, while the norm is about 75 per cent. The 60 per cent is still an improvement over the 43 per cent of funds used on projects in 2004.

"One positive thing is that it is trending in the right direction, but they are still underperforming compared with their peers," said Sandra Miniutti. "It's not a new charity; it's been around a long time and we would expect to see greater efficiency."

In his defense, Franca Sciuto, one of the chairs of Sting's charity claims that 2007 will show an even bigger improvement over previous years and pointed out that in the past 20 years, the foundation has raised approximately $25 million, with 85 per cent of those funds being donated to native land rights and forest preservation.

» Guardian