What might persuade affluent 20- and 30-somethings to give to charity? Charity Navigator, which millions of Americans use to guide their giving, is betting it has an answer for nonprofits: a new online platform that promotes giving to causes, not individual organizations. The ratings giant announced Tuesday its acquisition of the start-up behind Causeway. The platform, which launched last year in a test with about 100 donors, invites the charitably minded to make monthly recurring gifts to one of its cause funds — curated bundles of nonprofits rated as highly effective. The structure mimics that of a mutual or stock exchange fund, in which investors put money into a basket of publicly traded companies rather than individual stocks.
