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The Road to Resources Is Paved with Information by Allison Brody Director of Communications GuideStar® GuideStar, the Donor's Guide to the Nonprofit Universe (www.guidestar.org) helps donors locate, learn and support local or national charities whose work they find meaningful. GuideStar is a free resource that helps donors find any of the more than 600,000 501(c)(3) charities registered with the IRS. It also helps nonprofits by increasing their visibility to the public and to each other through its free listings and free GuideStar Pages. Who Produces GuideStar Philanthropic Research, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, established the GuideStar Web site to help transform the culture of philanthropy, in which charities are most frequently the initiators of philanthropic transactions, into "a marketplace of information," explains Arthur "Buzz" Schmidt, President and Founder, where: Donors actively seek and compare charities, monitor performance, and give with greater confidence. Nonprofits have lower fundraising costs, and embrace greater accountability and more effective operating practices. Society benefits from more efficient, generous and informed allocation of resources. Philanthropic Research, Inc., is supported by major foundations, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and The Philanthropic Collaborative. How It Works Using the GuideStar search engine and database, users are able to find nonprofits by keywords, city, state, zip code, type of charity or any combination of criteria. For example, a donor could search under homeless or shelter in New York, NY and see a list of approximately 120 nonprofits. 501(c)(3) organizations will find themselves listed in GuideStar, usually with brief information -- name, address, ruling year, assets and revenues -- but GuideStar offers nonprofits an opportunity to provide much more extensive and helpful information. What Your Organization Can Do Now Look at your GuideStar listing, verify the information that's already there, provide more, and do it today. The advantages of updating are clear: Participating nonprofits make their own information available directly to donors and others -- and those nonprofits come to the top of the GuideStar Search Results. "If donors find 120 charities that meet their giving criteria, chances are they would look through only the first 10 or 20," Schmidt comments. "It's best to come up first." Donors can also be linked directly to your Web site and e-mail address. "We want donors to reach the charities they're interested in," says Schmidt. Participating nonprofits answer online questions about their mission, programs, accomplishments, board members and performance monitoring systems. In some cases additional financial information is needed. Traffic and Results The GuideStar Web site was launched in October 1996, and between January and October 1998 averaged between 6,000 and 8,000 users per week. These users include individual, corporate and foundation donors as well as the media, volunteers and nonprofit managers. "We expect a dramatic increase in site visitation during November and December. That's when the media really focuses on giving and when donors are told to look at GuideStar," Schmidt observes. Nonprofits see results from their enhanced GuideStar Pages. FINCA International, Inc. (Foundation for International Community Assistance) wrote GuideStar about a $5,000 contribution. "We want the public to believe in the work of nonprofit organizations. Having concrete information helps individuals become more thoughtful and generous donors," Schmidt emphasizes. The GuideStar Web site is at www.guidestar.org. Telephone (757) 229-4631. |
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