GuideStar webinar on 02/23/12. Presenters: Bernard Palin, Product Manager, Marketing; Suzanne Coffman, Editorial Director; José Fernández, Director, GuideStar Exchange; Erinn Andrews, Director of Data, Research, and Partner Relationships, GuideStar http://www2.guidestar.org/rxg/news/webinars/webinar-archive.aspx

1. Focusing on Impact and Encouraging
Transparency:
GuideStar's New Nonprofit Report Pages
February 23, 2012
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2. Your GuideStar Speakers
Bernard Palin, Suzanne Coffman,
Product Manager Editorial Director
José Fernández, Erinn Andrews,
Director, GuideStar Director of Data,
Exchange; Research, and
Partner Relationships
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3. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Overview of Money For Good I & II
3. Money For Good II Findings
4. Market Test Findings & Conclusions
5. New Nonprofit Report Pages
6. Legitimacy, Financials and 990s
7. GuideStar Exchange
8. Charting Impact
9. Expert and Individual Nonprofit Reviews
10. Questions & Comments
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4. Money For Good
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5. Money For Good I: Goal – to seek the ‘voice of the customer’ behind
charitable giving; understand the demand for charitable gifts and
identify how we can meet their needs
What we learned…
Most donors say they care, but few actually research.
85% state performance is “very important”, but only 35% do any research
For the 35% that do research, it is often to validate their gift, not to choose between nonprofits.
63% - To determine whether they would make a gift to the organization
24% - To help decide how much to give
12% - To help choose between multiple orgs
There is a huge gap between those that say they care, and those who are trying to find the best
nonprofit.
What we concluded…
 9 out of 10 donors say that nonprofit performance is important
 But only 3 out of 100 research to find the “most effective” nonprofit
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6. Purpose of Money for Good II: Build upon initial MFGI findings, further
our understanding of charitable giving, and look at ways we could
influence giving behaviors
Goal: Dive deeper and determine what can get individual donors, advisors,
and foundation grantmakers to drive more dollars to high-performing nonprofits
(HPNP’s)
Execution Plan – Five Phases:
1. Existing Research Over 25 Studies
2. Qualitative Research 7 focus groups, n=67
3. Quantitative Research 5,075 Indiv. Donors, HH in>50k | 875 advisors to donors
725 foundation grantmakers
4. Market Testing 6 tests with 4 partners
5. Dissemination Articles, interviews, webinars
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7. What we learned from MFG II: Individual donors rarely research,
whereas advisors & foundations research almost every grant and
organization
ACTION RESEARCH COMPARE
Self described as Researched to
Went to any source of doing ‘research’ compare nonprofits
information before before donating
donating
Individual
69% 33% 6%
Donors
Advisors 97% 80% 27%
Foundations 98% 89% 38%
Note: Individual donor behavior varies significantly based on (1)their familiarity with the
nonprofit, (2)what sector the nonprofit is in, and (3)the type of donor
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8. More findings: Despite different motivations and research behaviors,
each group wants similar information on nonprofits
Individual Donors Advisors Foundations
0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Expected Impact 90%
Financials 74% Financials 80%
Org's Past
73%
Performance
Effectiveness 71% Effectiveness 68%
Financials 71%
Legal status and Basic org info
71% 64% Cause 70%
legitimacy (mission, leaders)
Legal status and Basic org info
Cause 66% 62% 69%
legitimacy (mission, leaders)
Legal status and
67%
Basic org info legitimacy
65% Cause 49%
(mission, leaders)
Info on Program
32%
Funders
Reviews or Reviews or
35% 42%
Endorsements Endorsements Info to compare orgs 30%
Info to compare Endorsements or
Info to compare orgs 34% 41% 29%
orgs opinions
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9. Money For Good Market Testing
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10. Old Report Page
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11. MFG II Market Test: Goal – To test MFG findings in live environments
for additional insight into ‘donation behavior’ and the ‘propensity to
donate’
GuideStar tested four treatments of the report page, utilizing a five
question pop-up survey to measure the ‘propensity to donate’ and a
website optimizer tool to track engagement
These four treatments consisted of:
 A control in the original GuideStar layout (d)
 An abbreviated detailed view in which additional info is available, but not all was shown (b)
 A more comprehensive detailed view in which all info about the nonprofit is shown (a)
 A ‘charity facts’ style view, which contains a detailed graphical summary (c)
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12. What We Learned: Users prefer a comprehensive detailed view in
which all information is shown – treatment (a)
 Treatment (a) is most likely to indicate the level of performance of the
nonprofit, which is a key indicator for driving the shift of money to the highest
nonprofits – a key objective of GuideStar
 When asked if the treatment viewed helped them determine the performance of the
nonprofit, Donors and Advisors answered ‘Yes’ most for (a) while Foundation
said ‘Yes’ for (c) then (d)
 Looking at engagement (triggers when visitor click on any link on the
page), treatment (a) generate the most activity from visitors to the report
pages, followed by (c).
Recommendation:
 GuideStar public report pages should feature a derivation of treatment (a)
going forward
Note: Test resulted in 3,689 survey responses from the various segments
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13. Final Conclusion: Donors, advisors, and foundations are most
interested in information on financials, legitimacy, & effectiveness data –
in a comprehensive detailed format
Lead to More
1. Better information, focused on impact
The Right Giving to High-
2. In a format that provides enough detail
Actions Performing
3. Available through appropriate channels
Nonprofits
+  More awareness of
current solutions
The Right 4. Focused on key causes  More research on
5. And target audiences causes and charities
Focus
 More demand for
+ information, creating
a positive cycle
 Changed giving
The Right 6. Adapting constantly, by being Agile behaviors
Process
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14. New Nonprofit Report Pages
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15. New Nonprofit Report Page: Provides users what they want, how
they want it, with the types of information they desire most
Types of Information Information Now Available
Individual Donors Want Most on the Public Report Page
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
− Form 990’s
Financials 74% − Annual Revenue & Expenses
− IRS Registration Status (Revoked, FTF, No
Legal status and legitimacy 71% longer in BMF)
− OFAC Watch List
Effectiveness 71%
− GuideStar Seal for Transparency
− TakeAction Expert Review Data on Impact
Cause 66%
− Impact Statement
Basic info on org
65%
− Mission
(e.g., mission, leadership)
− Program Descriptions
Endorsements or opinions 35% − Physical Address/Contact Info
− GreatNonprofit User Reviews
Info that enables comparisons
between orgs
34% − Leadership, etc.
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16. Features a comprehensive detailed format, updated user interface,
graphical elements, and improved scalability – enabling better
decision making and advanced transparency
Where we were… Where we are now…
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17. Legitimacy, Financials, and 990s
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18. Legitimacy
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19. Legitimacy
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20. Legitimacy
Help > Nonprofits Not on BMF
Reinstated orgs:
• Upload new letter of determination
via the GuideStar Exchange
• E-mail nposervices@guidestar.org to
let us know
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21. GuideStar Exchange member
Financials
Not a GuideStar Exchange member
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22. Forms 990
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23. GuideStar Exchange
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24. What is the GuideStar Exchange?
• Comprehensive database of nonprofit
information
• Designed to connect nonprofits with current and
potential supporters
– Millions of people come to GuideStar to learn more
about nonprofits each year
• Allows nonprofits to share a wealth of up-to-date
information with grantmakers and potential
donors
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25. GuideStar Exchange Membership
• Exchange members are nonprofits that have
updated their nonprofit reports to the fullest—
sharing:
• Program information, annual reports, and audited financials
with GuideStar’s vast audience of potential supporters
• In exchange for the information they provide,
Exchange Members receive
• The GuideStar Seal on their report page
• Ability to post the GuideStar Seal on your website
• Up-to-date information automatically distributed to partner
network
• Access to new fundraising tools
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26. Claim Your GuideStar Exchange Form
www.guidestar.org
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27. Charting Impact
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28. 1. What is your organization aiming to accomplish?
2. What are your strategies for making this happen?
3. What are your organization’s capabilities for doing this?
4. How will your organization know if you are making progress?
5. What have and haven’t you accomplished so far?
A framework for advancing strategic thinking.
A standardized method for sharing concise information with key
stakeholders and the public.
#chartingimpact
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29. Nearly 200 nonprofit and foundation leaders
have helped to develop, test, and refine
Charting Impact since 2009.
#chartingimpact
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30. #quickview

31. Reviewing Your Completed
Report
CEO Review
Board Chair Review
Stakeholder Review
#chartingimpact
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32. Expert and Individual Nonprofit Reviews
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33. Nonprofit Reviews at GuideStar
• Reviews give an important different perspective
about a nonprofit
• Nonprofit reviews are becoming increasingly
important to donors
• Donors especially want to learn about a nonprofit’s
impact and effectiveness—reviews can help with
that
• Integrating with GreatNonprofits, acquiring
Philanthropedia
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34. Expert Reviews
• What are expert reviews?
Expert reviews are assessments about nonprofits made by sector experts
and/or third party research groups that focus on the proven impact an
organization is having.
• Which organizations generate expert reviews?
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35. Expert Reviews:
What is Philanthropedia?
Philanthropedia developed a unique crowd-
sourcing methodology where hundreds of
independent experts (funders, nonprofit
leaders, researchers, etc.) are asked to
recommend and assess high impact
nonprofits in their sector. More information
about the methodology can be found at
http://www.myphilanthropedia.org/how_we_ra
nk.
Number of causes researched: 27
Number of nonprofits reviewed: 1,397
Number of reviews collected: 9,528
Number of experts participating: 2,199
Number of top nonprofits: 404
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36. Individual Reviews:
What are individual
reviews?
Individual reviews are Yelp-like
reviews written by individuals in
the community: volunteers,
beneficiaries, board members,
donors, etc.
What is GreatNonprofits?
GreatNonprofits collects
individual reviews and provides a
1-5 star rating for each
Number of nonprofits reviewed: 11,904 organization.
Number of reviews collected: 96,526
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37. Expert and Individual Reviews
• Benefits to nonprofits
– Promotes transparency and confidence
– Helps individuals make donation decisions
• How to leverage reviews
– Share the recognition with your stakeholders via press releases,
marketing materials, social media campaigns, annual reports,
board presentations, and giving campaigns
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38. Expert and Individual Reviews
• How to get involved
– Expert Reviews:
• Participate in Philanthropedia research: contact Jasmine
Marrow jasmine.marrow@guidestar.org to be invited to future
research.
• If you’re an international nonprofit, request to be assessed by
GiveWell: http://givewell.org/submit-charity
• Start documenting your own impact through Charting Impact.
http://www.chartingimpact.org/
– Individual Reviews:
• Contact your stakeholders and encourage them to write a
review—after receiving benefits from your organization, after
fundraising events, after volunteer experiences, etc.
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39. QUESTIONS?
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40. Join the Conversation
• Facebook.com/GuideStarUSA
• Twitter: @GuideStarUSA; @Philanthropedia #guidestarexchange
• Google +: +GuideStar
• Pinterest.com/guidestar/
• GX Connects: gxconnects.ning.com
• Contact
– Bernard Palin bpalin@guidestar.org
– Suzanne Coffman scoffman@guidestar.org
– Jose Fernandez jfernandez@guidestar.org
– Erinn Andrews eandrews@guidestar.org
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41. THANK YOU!
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