As the calendar year comes to an end many people use this time of year to donate to various non-profits, particularly on Giving Tuesday. But how can you tell which charities or nonprofit organizations are in the most need or how your donations will be spent?
Enter Guidestar, the largest database of information on nonprofits in the world. It is one of Candid's products, which also include the Foundation Directory Online (FDO). But while the FDO focuses on how organizations are granting money (see our recorded Grants Funding Webinar webinar), Guidestar collects and organizes financial information for over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. Organizations can claim their profile and supply additional information like their mission, programming, and annual reports.
However, Guidestar really shines with its access to financial information sourced from IRS 990 forms. Not only can you download the original 990 forms, you will also see a breakdown of the most recent revenue and expenses.
One caveat to using this database, is that not every organization's record will have the same level of detail. Smaller, more localized organizations often have little to no information while larger organizations will have more fleshed out profiles.
University of Michigan-Flint
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