(MONEY Magazine) – Few charities have gone mainstream faster than those that seek to protect the environment. In 1987, environmental groups raised $1.6 billion. Last year, they took in $2.5 billion. Another sign of greener times: More than 100 companies, from Citibank to Nike, now let Earth Share, a federation of 40 environmental charities, canvass employees at work -- a privilege formerly extended only to the United Way. Explains Citibank spokesman Jack Morris: ''Some employees felt the United Way was too limited in the groups it supported.'' Unfortunately, however, four of the nine groups on our list don't meet the standards of at least one of the two major watchdogs. Greenpeace U.S.A., an activist group that is known primarily for protecting the whales and for opposing nuclear power, is not approved by the CBBB because it has not provided financial statements. A Greenpeace official told MONEY that the accounting firm Price Waterhouse has completed an audit and her group will submit the results shortly. The World Wildlife Fund doesn't meet the NCIB rule that a paid staff member cannot be the chairman of the group's board. The Jewish National Fund, best known for having planted 200 million trees in Israel since 1901, fails six of 23 CBBB standards. For example, JNF produces its financial reports every two years instead of annually. ''We have 500 projects in Israel, and it's not cost-effective to gather complete information every year,'' says spokesman Stuart Paskow. The National Audubon Society flunked a CBBB marketing standard by neglecting to indicate that the bird stamps enclosed in a mailing were free. The group has stopped using the material.

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