GuideStar

Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg, Va.—GuideStar, the leading source of nonprofit information, encourages grantmakers and businesses that work with exempt organizations to remind their grantees and clients that the first legally mandated revocations of tax-exempt status are imminent.

"Once the IRS begins issuing revocation notices in 2011, the sector will change dramatically," noted Bob Ottenhoff, president and CEO of GuideStar. "It will be important for grantmakers, businesses that provide nonprofit discounts, and others who need to verify nonprofit status to know which organizations are still exempt and which are not. As the IRS announces its procedures and as information on the revocations becomes available, we will incorporate them into GuideStar Charity Check, our due-diligence tool for verifying charitable status and researching supporting organizations."

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires the IRS to revoke the federal tax exemption of any organization that has failed to file three consecutive annual returns (Form 990-N, 990-EZ, 990, or 990-PF). Nonprofits that wish to have their exemptions reinstated will be required to re-apply to the IRS for tax-exempt status, a process that can take several months.

EMERYVILLE, CA. – May 11, 2010 – Lyris, Inc., the online marketing expert, today announced that GuideStar USA, Inc., the leading source of nonprofit information, has deployed Lyris HQ to manage its online marketing campaigns. Leveraging Lyris HQ, GuideStar has completely revamped its email marketing program to better segment and engage its audience. Since launching Lyris earlier this year, the company has increased email deliverability by 12 percent.

April 23, 2010, Press Release — TechSoup Global, the U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides technology resources and knowledge to NGOs around the world, and GuideStar International, a U.K.-registered charity that promotes transparency and civil society organization (CSO) reporting, announced that they will combine operations in order to strengthen their respective capacity-building programs for civil society. The two organizations share a mission to benefit global civil society through the provision of technology, information, and resources.

The TechSoup Global Network, which now reaches more than 100,000 civil society organizations in 32 countries, will gain GuideStar International’s deep expertise in making civil society organizations more visible, accountable, and effective, allowing TechSoup Global and its partners to more easily identify and reach those organizations that are working to address society’s most urgent needs.

NEW YORK, November 23, 2009 — Gateways' Russian American Jewish Experience (RAJE) is now the highest-rated Jewish non-profit in North America and the fifth highest rated non-profit of all the 1.2 million non-profits listed on GuideStar, the central source of information on U.S. nonprofits.

WASHINGTON, DC and WILLIAMSBURG, VA, September 29, 2009 — The proportion of women heading nonprofits grew only 1 percent between FY 2006 and FY 2007, the 2009 GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report shows.

August 11, 2009 — When we think of private foundations, names such as Gates, Ford, and Rockefeller come first to mind. But those billion-dollar foundations represent a very small segment of the philanthropic sector. Of the 72,000 foundations in the United States, fewer than 50 have endowments of more than $1 billion. The vast majority, more than 90 percent, have endowments of less than $10 million. Most of these organizations are family foundations.

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.

July 23, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Just over half of charities saw a drop in donations between March and May of this year, the same portion as reported a decline between October and February, according to a survey by the nonprofit watchdog group Guidestar.

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.

A recently released report by GuideStar that reviewed the online disclosure practices of more than 1,800 nonprofits found that while many organizations use the Internet to share information about their programs and services, most fail to make their annual reports, financial statements and important tax information available online.