San Francisco, August 2009 — The 2009 GreatNonprofits Youth Thrive Awards will recognize the top-rated youth-focused nonprofits. In the months of August and September, the small, medium, and large organizations with the most positive reviews will be featured on GreatNonprofits and on Guidestar, the premier site for philanthropic research on the Web.
Menlo Park, Calif., July 7, 2009 — Community-based nonprofits and religious gay groups get top ratings in the GreatNonprofits 2009 Pride Choice Awards. Local LGBTQ nonprofits focusing on education, service, and advocacy received more positive ratings than large national nonprofits. Religious organizations, surprisingly, also made a strong showing in the list of winners.
June 1, 2009 — In honor of June which is LGBTQ Pride Month, the 2009 GreatNonprofits Pride Choice Awards (www.greatnonprofits.org/pride) will recognize the top-rated LGBTQ nonprofits. The contest asks people to write reviews of LGBTQ nonprofits they have had an experience with. Nonprofits can also encourage their volunteers, clients served, donors and board members to post reviews. All reviews will be automatically visible on GuideStar.org, the leading site for philanthropic research.
Menlo Park, Calif. — April 30, 2009 — Grassroots nonprofits get top votes for best environmental nonprofits, according to GreatNonprofits’ 2009 Green Choice Awards. The contest, held during Earth Month in April, asked people to submit reviews and ratings about environmental nonprofits. The results provide surprising insights into the kinds of organizations that are considered effective by volunteers, donors and stakeholders.
Back in December, I wrote that the one thing I wanted to know before donating to a nonprofit was whether it was achieving its goals. Since it's hard to find that information, I was happy to see that Charity Navigator is exploring how to integrate data on outcomes — progress in achieving goals — into its notoriously distorted rating system for nonprofits. This has the potential to increase the total social good produced by the sector: Rating nonprofits based on outcomes will direct more donor dollars to the nonprofits with the greatest positive impact and will encourage all nonprofits to improve their outcomes.
