Verdict: Evidence needed: a published definition of "saved" or "rescued". Evidence located: cost-per-outcome arithmetic that does not reconcile with the audited budget.
“In 2025, we neutralized over 655 networks and saved 39,000+ girls from being trafficked... We have saved over 86,000 children from being trafficked since we launched our operations.” — marici.org / GuideStar profile / Millie Giving [source] [archived]
The problem
The lifetime figure of 86,000 “lives saved” implies, on average, more than 11,000 rescues per year over the organization’s operational lifetime. The 2025 figure of 39,000+ “girls saved” is more than nine times the entire annual budget of the organization in dollars.
The most recent IRS filing reports total annual expenses of $5.48 million. That implies a cost per “life saved” of roughly $140 — yet the donor page asks $500 to “Save 1 Life.”
What “saved” appears to mean
The numbers are only internally consistent if “saved” includes prevention reach — community awareness contacts, school outreach, public campaign impressions — rather than identified individual victims removed from trafficking situations.
If that is the definition, donors are not being told. The word “rescued” is used interchangeably with “saved” across donor-facing materials, and neither term is defined.