Login with FacebookGreatNonprofits Top Charity Lists Go Live!
MEDIA ALERT – December 1, 2009
First “Zagat-like Ratings” Website Goes Live with New Top Charity Lists
WHAT: GreatNonprofits releases the first-ever “Top charities” lists based on user ratings and reviews. Twenty lists created according to causes and cities, rate nonprofits including youth service, food and shelter, cancer, environmental, and LGBT organizations, and nonprofits in metro areas including San Diego, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.
WHEN: December 1, 2009, 12:01 a.m.
WHY: This holiday season, with needs up and donations down, it’s more vital than ever that consumers make wise choices about which charities to support, either financially or through volunteer service. Experts, including Hewlett Foundation president Paul Brest, say “overhead ratios” -— determined by how much money goes into programs as compared to administrative costs — are useless for evaluating which charities do the best work [see explananation, next page]. But that and similar criteria are precisely what most other ratings systems employ in judging nonprofit performance. Now there is an alternative. Several new organizations, including GreatNonprofits, have formed to provide donors useful — and free — information to help them choose charities that are the best at what they do.
WHO: Perla Ni, founding editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, founded GreatNonprofits after providing editorial coverage of Hurricane Katrina and trying to determine the best nonprofits serving New Orleans residents. Ni was recently named one of the “Top Game Changers in Philanthropy” by the Huffington Post, and has been featured in the Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and dozens of other media for her innovative rating service, referred to as “Zagat-”, “Yelp-”, or “TripAdvisor-like” reviews for nonprofits.
WHERE: GreatNonprofits, called “a destination site for the philanthropic,”can be accessed from any computer anywhere on the planet. Volunteers, board members, service recipients, or anyone who has had experience with a nonprofit can post a review, positive or negative, enabling nonprofits to improve their services and showcase their strengths, and encouraging more donations and volunteer support.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Perla Ni; ; 415.902.2659, visit http://www.GreatNonprofits.org, or see http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1125/p25s08-usec.html or http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/26/BAEP14OGI4.DTL&hw=greatnonprofits&sn=001&sc=1000
Why “overhead ratios” may be the worst criteria by which to judge nonprofits While the idea of sending money “straight to the beneficiaries” is tempting, nonprofit experts agree that judging charities by how much of their money goes to "programs" is counterproductive. "Achieving a low overhead ratio drives charities to all sorts of behaviors that make them less effective and means more, not less, wasted dollars," says Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation.
Experts cite many reasons that an overhead ratio is a useless measure:
• It tells you nothing about the impact the charity has on people it's trying to help
• It discourages charities from investing in tools and expertise that would make them more effective
• The rules for determining overhead costs are vague and every charity interprets them differently
• Accounting experts estimate that 75% of charities calculate their overhead ratio incorrectly
Top Nonprofits by City:
Boston - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/628
Chicago - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/663
Los Angeles - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/600
Minneapolis - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/631
New York - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/606
Oakland - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/623
Philadelphia - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/629
Pittsburgh - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/666
San Diego - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/610
San Francisco - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/642
San Jose - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/655
Seattle - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/618
Washington DC - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/_/609
Top Nonprofits by Cause:
Top-Rated Cancer Fighting Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/cancer/_
Top-Rated Environmental Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/green/_
Top-Rated Indian Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/indya/_
Top-Rated Jewish Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/jewish/_
Top-Rated LGBTQ Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/pride/_
Top-Rated Youth Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/yth/_
Top-Rated Food and Shelter Nonprofits - http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/foodandshelter/_
