Website Reviews Over 1 Million Nonprofits
by Ashley High

There are many websites where users can rate various services such as college professors, mechanics, restaurants, hotels, and even hair stylists. However, there are not many options when it comes to reviewing a charity. In response to this problem, a group of Stanford University students created greatnonprofits.org, a website where volunteers, non-profit staff, donors, and others can rate charities.

 

The need for such a website has become increasingly obvious as more and more people go online before making any sort of decision or purchase. The founder of the website, Perla Ni, said, “These days people don’t go to a movie or buy a book without first checking the reviews. Nonprofits need a forum to create that same type of trust.”

 

Currently, 400 of the charities listed on Ni’s website have been reviewed and another 1 million charities are still waiting to be rated. Most of the charities evaluated on the website are small. They have an average of two paid staff and an annual budget of $180,000. Because these charities are small, they do not have the money to advertise, meaning their work largely goes unnoticed.

 

Already, four community foundations have approached Ni about replicating her site. GuideStar, a website that lets users assess non-profits’ tax records, will add reviews from greatnonprofits.org to its website in February. Ni said about her website, “The concept works because yes, you want to know that the charity is not bilking you out of your donation, but more importantly, you want to know if it’s having an effect on someone’s life. We are allowing nonprofits to tell their narrative story.”

 

To read charity reviews, or to add your own charity to the website in order to be reviewed, visit www.greatnonprofits.org.

 

Information taken from: Meredith May. “New Website a Network for Nonprofits.” San Francisco Chronicle. www.sfgate.com.

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