Case Study: Guidestar.org
Join Spark Group each Friday and take a look at real-life nonprofits to ascertain organizational health
In this week’s video, Mary uses Guidestar.org to evaluate two food pantries with similar missions and budgets of approximately $250,000 each. Foundations, Donors, Stakeholders, and individuals use Guidestar to receive a quick snapshot of an organization. Mary evaluates Organizations A & B using three criteria, Guidestar Rating, Data, and Finances.
Guidestar Rating
Organization A has no rating from Guidestar.org which indicates to external stakeholders that Org. A is either disorganized or doesn’t value communicating information to the public through these tools.
Organization B has a Platinum rating from Guidestar which instills confidence and indicates organizational health and forethought.
Data
Organization A offers no information to the public through Guidestar on their societal impacts.
Organization B provides detailed information on the services they offer and the outcomes that result from their work.
Finances
Organization A provides no information (other than the 990 that Guidestar automatically uploads) to Guidestar regarding their finances. This leaves the public with questions about how Org A. stewards their resources.
Organization B offers detailed financial information which allows the public to easily see that a significant majority of their resources are allocated towards programming.
Updating Guidestar.org is an easy, free way to communicate organizational health to external stakeholders. If you are interested in help with communicating organizational health set up an initial consultation today!
⭐ Join our weekly newsletter where we share tons of exclusive tips, tools, grant opportunities, and resources to our subscribers. Subscribe on the Spark Group home page.
