Login with FacebookChanging the Game - and Looking Good Doing It
Imagine our surprise when The Huffington Post's Game Changers in Philanthropy were announced today, and we saw Perla right there on HuffPost's homepage!
We're of course honored to be included among an impressive list along with Charles Best of DonorsChoose, Jeff Skoll of the Skoll Foundation, Matt Flannery of Kiva, Lucy Bernholz, and so many more amazing people working in new media to improve the philanthropic world. (We're just glad more people are finally acknowledging how amazing Perla is- maybe now she can take a vacation!)
Our real excitement comes from the hope that with this announcement more people will realize how important it is to really take a look at how nonprofits are having an impact - to highlight the good work of those that are making a difference, and to help those that are struggling gain the feedback they need to improve.
More than that, as GreatNonprofits becomes more well-known, a community will emerge of well-informed, passionate people who are committed to nonprofit excellence. They will know that when they give money or volunteer for a cause, any cause, they can trust in GreatNonprofits as a resource to guide them. And when they've had good OR bad experiences with charities, they can come back to GreatNonprofits and help others follow in their footsteps by sharing their stories.
So click here to browse through HuffPost's Philanthropy Game Changers, and vote for GreatNonprofits- together, we'll change the game, and we'll all win.
First Ever List of Top Indian Nonprofits Help Them Shine
Menlo Park, Calif. — October 26, 2009 — For donors and volunteers looking for the best nonprofits supporting India or Indian communities abroad, GreatNonprofits releases the first ever list of Top-Rated Indian Nonprofits.
Over 70 such organizations, from both India and the US, received over 3500 reviews during the 2009 GreatNonprofits InDiya Shine Awards this Diwali. These included nonprofits supporting vision, hearing, children, youth, culture, arts, community, women, cancer, education, literacy, poverty and more. The large diversity of organizations that received reviews combined with the large number of reviews posted, shows the incredible passion and commitment these organizations inspire.
"All of us at the Sankara Eye Foundation are very excited about winning the InDiya Shine Awards,” says Murali Krishnamurthy, founder of Sankara Eye Foundation. “We appreciate the excellent feedback from our volunteers and donors, and this will help us improve ourselves even more. This campaign has energized our volunteers all over the country.”
While big organizations such as Seva Foundation and the American India foundation were available for review, those groups didn’t see the kinds of results that their leaner counterparts did. For example, Seva Foundation had just one review, while Vibha, a much smaller nonprofit, garnered 125.
The contest, held from Sept 20th to Oct 20th, asked people to submit reviews and ratings about nonprofits serving the Indian community – at home and in India. The contest was sponsored by GreatNonprofits, GuideStar, and Little India.
There was nearly equal participation among US-based and India-based nonprofits. The results of this campaign include the top 5 most-reviewed organizations on Greatnonprofits to date, and provide surprising and inspiring insights into the diversity of nonprofits that are considered effective and important by volunteers, donors and stakeholders. This is the first ever list providing reviews of Indian nonprofits by those who have actually experienced their work. These unique results will be helpful to donors and supporters looking to get involved with the community.
"These remarkable reviews by donors, volunteers, clients of these nonprofits, show vividly how these nonprofits are making a difference in this community," says Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits.
Top-Rated Indian Nonprofits can be viewed at http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/indya/_
About the 2009 InDiya Shine Awards
The Awards were hosted by GreatNonprofits- the leading provider of user-generated ratings and reviews of nonprofits- Little India, and GuideStar. Over the course of the InDiya Shine Awards, more than 70,000 people visited the GreatNonprofits Web site, and over 3500 reviews were posted about more than 70 organizations supporting India or Indian communities abroad. Reviews appear on GreatNonprofits.org as well as GuideStar.org, the premier resource for donor research on nonprofits. Nonprofits with 10 or more positive reviews appear on the Top-Rated Indian Nonprofits List. Review submissions took place from Sept 20th to Oct 20th, 2009.
Media Contact: Indira Raman Indira [dot] Raman [at] greatnonprofits.org 408.607.3334 (cell)
Let’s Talk Green Business
In June you saw Shari's interview at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service with Business Boomer, an online media outlet that produces webcasts with CEO's, business owners, and other cultural leaders to discuss best practices and timely issues. Well they're back, and this time they're talking green.
Their show today in San Francisco is called "Green, Sustainable Consumer-Facing Businesses." Guests include Gary Kremen, Founder of Match.com and CEO of Clean Power Finance; Reem Rahim, Co-founder and CEO of Numi Tea; and Brian Matthay, Program Manager of Imagine H2O. An impressive and exciting line-up, for sure.
Our excitement is doubled by the fact that this topic emphasizes a new trend emerging in the hazy world of business these days: how for-profit companies are learning from nonprofit practices. For decades nonprofit organizations have survived on fractions of what for-profit companies waste each year on unnecessary spending and wasteful practices. Sustainability is a prime example of the ways nonprofits have learned to achieve their goals without damaging the world around them- and now, finally, the for-profit sector is taking notice and taking notes.
We're excited to tune in to Business Boomer's show this evening, which will broadcast at 6pm PDT. You can go to Business Boomer's website to see it, or you can see it on the livestream player below.
Inaugural List of Top-Rated Youth Nonprofits
Menlo Park, Calif. — October 9, 2009 — With tens of thousands of nonprofits serving youth in this country, organizations focused on mentoring and outdoor recreation were rated at the top by members of the public. GreatNonprofits has released the results of the 2009 Youth Thrive Awards that gathered reviews of nonprofits serving youth across the USA. The contest, held in partnership with VolunteerMatch, DoSomething.org, and GuideStar, ended on October 7th.
“As a new organization,” says Liza McFadden, President of Volunteer USA Foundation, which was a top-rated nonprofit serving youth, “we hope winning the Youth Thrive Award will help bring greater attention to today’s youth, whether they are mentoring young readers or learning to help save lives and property during a disaster situation. We are proud to be a part of this movement that’s making a real difference.” "We are most grateful that GreatNonprofits exists, and does all this work to help nonprofits,” says Marilyn Price, Executive Director of Trips for Kids. “We are most fortunate, given the reach that the Internet has today, that we have won this Award and word of our work is getting out there."
The contest, held during August and September, asked people to submit reviews and ratings about nonprofits serving youth. The contest was sponsored by GreatNonprofits and GuideStar, the premier web site for philanthropic research. The results show the growing concern as well as the large amount of work being done for youth mentoring as well as children's access to outdoor recreation. This is the first ever list providing reviews of nonprofits serving youth by those who have actually experienced their work. These unique results will be helpful to donors and supporters looking to get involved with this area.
“There are so many great nonprofits that don’t have an advertising budget and are not household names,” says Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits. “Through this first-ever list of top-rated nonprofits serving youth, you can see how some of these nonprofits are changing lives. Donors and volunteers who are interested in helping kids and youth now see which nonprofits are really making a difference."
You can see the Top-Rated Youth Nonprofits here: http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/yth/_
About the 2009 Youth Thrive Awards
The awards were hosted by GreatNonprofits, the leading provider of user-generated ratings and reviews of nonprofits, VolunteerMatch, DoSomething.org, and GuideStar. Over the course of the Youth Thrive Awards, more than 93,000 people visited the GreatNonprofits Web site, and 3011 reviews were posted about more than 300 nonprofits serving youth.
Reviews appear on GreatNonprofits.org as well as GuideStar.org, the premiere source for donor research on nonprofits. Nonprofits with 10 or more positive reviews appear on the Top-Rated Youth Nonprofits list. Those who submitted reviews were eligible to win prizes such as a certificate to Birkenstock, Clif Bars, delicious treats from Greyston Bakery and more. Reviews submissions took place from August 1st to October 7th, 2009.
