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GreatNonprofits’ Social Impact Statement

The Social Impact Statement – piloted by GreatNonprofits and the Pittsburgh Foundation provides transparency to donors and a direct link between their gift and the positive change affected in the community.

It’s a fact we face daily in the nonprofit sector: philanthropy has been relatively stagnant for years. Giving has only been growing at two percent, year over year.

What’s the cause of this lack of real growth and more importantly, how can we change it? There is a definite lack of tools in the sector for connecting donors to their direct impact. Donors want to know the on-the-ground difference that their money is making. Foundations, and their grantees, face a difficult task in communicating this impact to donors. And while overall philanthropy is sluggish, community-based giving is growing. So we know that donors want that kind of local connection—they want to know how their dollars are changing their communities.  (more…)

Act Now! Your Opinion Can Shape Corporate Giving

 

GreatNonprofits, in collaboration with America’s Charities, invites you to participate in the Snapshot 2014 survey. Your participation in this survey will provide valuable insights into how nonprofits work with companies and their employees to build strong partnerships, and how nonprofits demonstrate impact from the contributions they receive.

Your input is vital to Snapshot 2014.  The findings will be published by America’s Charities and shared with corporate funders in April 2014.  We will also provide you with a copy of the report.  To participate in this short, 15-minute survey, click this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/0114GNP

Please complete the survey by February 7, 2014.  Your responses will be kept anonymous and will only be used in an aggregated format.  Thank you for your help and contribution to this important topic. (more…)

Nonprofit Love: Two FREE Online Events from GuideStar You Won’t Want to Miss

Guidestar – our partner – has declared February the month of February Nonprofit Love (we concur!).  To help nonprofits, Guidestar is launching a series of webinars that are coming up in February. Both of these webinars are topics we at GreatNonprofits care about – transparency and feedback. And, we’re speaking at one of the events. So please, come one, come all. Register for the events below. Collectively, we can’t wait to have you.

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Tapping Into Corporate Giving

The World Of Corporate Giving Has Changed

Did you know that:

  • Less than 6% of the $320 Billion that is donated annually to North American charities is done online.
  • Less than 5% of that amount comes from corporations.
  • 70% of employees are not engaged in their jobs – and 25% are actively disengaged.

These are all statistics that Benevity, a software social enterprise that helps companies engage their customers and employees through giving back, hopes to change.  And they highlight issues that corporate social good efforts, like employee giving and volunteering programs, are evolving to address. “Doing well by doing” good is more than just a tagline; it’s a business imperative. The good news is that an increasing number of companies are doing more – they’re part of a significant shift towards integrating support for causes into their operations.   (more…)

Cultivating the Ultimate Board: Interview with Kay Sprinkel Grace

What’s the most common mistake organizations make when recruiting board members? 

Not fully describing what’s expected in terms of their role and responsibilities. Too often we understate expectations because we want people to serve. That’s self-defeating. Full disclosure from the beginning will bring you amazingly dedicated and committed board members. By the same token, understating the requirements (“You only have to come to meetings – the staff does everything else”) will backfire and create resentment. (more…)

Truist Integrates GreatNonprofit User Reviews into CSR Platforms

Here at GreatNonprofits, we believe in allowing people to find, review and openly share information as the best way to find the right nonprofits to support.  Our goal is to make it easy for people to share knowledge so that other people can benefit from it. With this in mind, we recently entered into a data sharing agreement with Truist, a leading provider of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy services. Truist helps companies manage their employee giving, matching, and volunteering programs. Over the coming months, Truist will be incorporating our user reviews into their various products so their users can leverage this information to make decisions about their charitable giving. (more…)

2014 Golden Globe Nominees: Celebrities and The Causes They Care About


As the Hollywood awards season begins to rev up, all eyes are front and center on the celebrities who will be strutting their stuff at the Golden Globes.  Celebrities receive much critical acclaim for their work on the silver screen, but beyond the glitz and the glamour of showbiz, many of these household names are quietly serving on the sidelines as active philanthropists.  Many celebrities are doing far more than just writing a check or turning up at a gala or cocktail party – some of the headlining nominees at this year’s Golden Globes are passionate volunteers, advocates, or founders of their own nonprofit organizations.  Here are some of the 2014 Golden Globe nominees who are dedicated to causes far away from the lights of Hollywood.

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Resolve To Do Good

For many of us, ushering in a new year means a chance to transform aspects of our lives. We do that by resolving to do things – lose weight, quit a bad habit, increase physical activity, call our moms more frequently and so on. While they are all great aspirations, all of which are on my list, there is something else that makes for a great resolution – doing good and helping others. (more…)

Giving Wisely and Joyfully

It’s that time of the year! There is just a couple of days remaining in the year to make your charitable donation. The stock market’s been good to many of you this year – so celebrate and give. As they say, “Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.”

This year you have so many great choices among organizations to give to. How do you choose?

Here’s a checklist –

1. What issues do you care about? You can make a difference on a wide array of issues. There are many ways in which you can give and make an impact. Your donations could…

  • Provide dental care in communities where no doctors took children under 7 or accepted Medicare: PRASAD
  • Build camp, latrines, provide food and water for families fleeing violence in the Central Condo Republic: International Rescue Committee
  • Bridge the gap between science and policy, provide interesting briefings to Congress, open to the public, about complex energy and environmental issues: Environmental and Energy Study Institute
  • Provide counseling, homework and SAT help: A Place Called Home
  • Match volunteers with people with HIV/AIDS to ensure that men and women do not have to face their illnesses alone: Shanti Project
  • Pay for fees for kids’ activities such as tutoring, summer camp, ballet lessons or ice hockey lessons while their parents are deployed overseas: Our Military Kids.
  • Provide creative writing classes at community libraries for the low-income: LOFT 
  • Rescue and rehabilitate ill and injured seals and sea lions: Marine Mammal Center
  • Help low-income people get medical care that they can afford: Access Partnership

These are just a few examples from the GreatNonprofits 2013 Top-Rated Nonprofit List.

2. Go with your heart – are you interested in having a local impact or national? National organizations tend to have more impact in raising awareness and policy-making, and therefore can have broader impacts. The advantage of local giving is that you can get more involved with an organization in addition to donating. There are thousands of nonprofits in each major city providing services ranging from meals for the elderly to legal aid for the low-income. Find your city’s list of nonprofits: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland,Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Honolulu, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Portland,San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Washington DC and more.

3. Go visit the nonprofit and experience it for yourself. Many nonprofits have community outreach events – and you can drop by and talk to them at their table at the community fair, or at their open house. Walk around and see if you can meet some of the people they serve – talk to them and get a sense of what services they value and their experience with the organization. Sign up to volunteer and see first hand the work of the nonprofit. By volunteering, you will meet other volunteers, even some board members or clients and get to witness their program first-hand.

Just remember, you have just a couple of more days to make your 2013 tax-deductible donation count. Giving unleashes endorphins – so give to a worthy cause, and enjoy the true season of giving!

 

Over $200k Awarded From Crowdrise Holiday Challenge

By Craig Newmark: contributing writer and founder of Craigslist.

Hey, I’ve teamed up with CrowdRise and the Huffington Post to host a Holiday Challenge over on CrowdRise to help nonprofits raise a lot of money this season.

As they say – here’s how it’s going down.

The Holiday Challenge will work similar to the #VetsChallenge that I sponsored over the summer, but this time, any charity is able to sign up. Over $200,000 will be given to nonprofits throughout the challenge. Last year over $1,000,000.00 was raised for charities.
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Give Hope & Joy this Holiday Season!

By contributing writer Amanda Howard, and Brad Jamison, contributing writer and founder of Good Citizen, 

Christmas time is often called “the most wonderful time of the year” and I couldn’t agree more. I LOVE Christmas – the traditions, time with family and friends, gift giving, cooking, eating, singing holiday favorites, church on Christmas Eve and more.

Now, there is another side of this time of year that has gotten a bit out of control – the commercial side. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to the commercial side of the holidays. I love giving gifts to those I love – I get a thrill out of finding just the right thing, big or small, and presenting it to them. But, I do think it has gone too far, as the hope and joy seem to have been replaced by greed and selfishness.

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