GreatNonprofits' intern helps homeless man post a review
User-review website focuses on nonprofits, with current outreach campaign highlighting cancer fighting organizations
Perla Ni was publisher of the Stanford Social Innovation Review when Hurricane Katrina hit, and the publication was overwhelmed with inquiries for which nonprofits were doing effective work on the ground in New Orleans. The only answer for SSIR was to send its general manager to Louisiana to walk the streets and learn first-hand which organizations were truly helping the city's residents recover.
The experience spurred Ni to create GreatNonprofits, a website that lets users review the organizations whose services they have utilized. Often called Yelp for the nonprofit world, the site is becoming an authoritative source for real people, whether potential philanthropists or consumers, to research or assess organizations whose services they have used, plan to give to or are simply curious about.
Partnering with nonprofit clearinghouse Guidestar, GreatNonprofits has 1.2 million 501(c)(3) organizations available for review on its website. Over 1,000 organizations have already received reviews, with 300 of those organizations from the San Francisco Bay Area.
.jpg)
Headquartered in Palo Alto, GreatNonprofits went live in late 2007 with a database of organizations from throughout the United States. The site works hard to ensure participation from all corners of the country.
Its outreach strategies include monthly campaigns centered around a target issue. The goal of each campaign is to increase the number of organizations reviewed on the site, and to encourage equal participation by small, medium and large nonprofits in a specific category.
HELP RECOGNIZE CANCER FIGHTING NONPROFITS
The current campaign is the Cancer Fighters Award. Cancer-related nonprofits with the most positive reviews in their category posted by July 30 will be announced as winners and receive media coverage. All those who write a review are eligible to win prizes ranging from a spa package to a year's supply of organic milk.
San Francisco's very own Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group was a winner of GreatNonprofit's recent Green Choice Awards, which recognized stellar organizations working to improve our environment. In June, GreatNonprofits recognized top-rated LGBTQ organizations in the Pride Choice Awards.
BENEFITS FOR NONPROFITS
GreatNonprofits stresses that it is interested in engaging nonprofits themselves to get their stakeholders involved in sounding off about an organization's services. The site's welcome message to nonprofits acknowledges that, as a local, community website, it is allowing nonprofits to "harness all the goodwill of people who know you best - your clients, volunteers - and enable them to be your citizen marketers."
GreatNonprofits makes it easy for nonprofits to encourage their consumers to review an organization. Available for download is a badge that is easily embedded into a website or email signature. Also, the site allows organizations to upload photos and videos.
TRANSPARENCY AND EVALUATION
Shari Ilsen, GreatNonprofit's director of marketing and outreach, says the website is facilitating the move toward transparency that is reverberating currently through all sectors, including the public and private worlds. "GreatNonprofits is cultivating an environment for direct, constructive feedback," notes Ilsen. The site also helps small nonprofits that might not have the resources to conduct extensive performance surveys to gather anecdotal information to help them begin to establish baselines for program evaluation.
For a quick overview of some particularly useful pages of GreatNonprofits' extensive website, check out my sidebar "GreatNonprofits for nonprofits."
LEADERSHIP SERIES
In August, I'll be kicking off a series on leadership in San Francisco's nonprofit sector to coincide with CompassPoint's annual Nonprofit Day. Don't miss my August interview with Jeanne Bell, CEO of Compasspoint. I welcome your suggestions for San Francisco nonprofit leaders you might like to see profiled in this monthly feature.
For the latest stories on SF nonprofit business, add me to your list of Favorite Examiners. Or follow Maureen Futtner & Associates on Twitter for regular tweets about this column. Visit my website to learn about P.R. for the People and the services I offer nonprofits and small businesses.
Comments