Screening & Ranking
Reports & Financials
Standards/Benchmarking
Analysts Reports
Finding Articles
Major Journals
Related Guides:
Social Enterprising
Careers: Nonprofits & Social Enterprises
Citing Sources

Screening & Ranking U.S. Nonprofits

Guidestar - register for free access and then use the Advanced Search feature to screen by various criteria.  Most records provide IRS Form 990s with financials.

Charity Navigator - screen by location, keyword and compare to related organizations

American Institute of Philanthropy - top-rated organizations in 36 categories, updated triennially

NonProfit Times 100 - includes a helpful comparison chart

Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards - top 25 entrepreneurs "who are changing the world"

Philanthropy 400- click Facts & Figures

Forbes: Rating Nonprofits 

Examples of local rankings:

• Catalogue of Philanthropy  - covers Massachusetts; Washington DC; St. Louis, MO; Whatcom County, WA

Annual Reports & Financials

What is the IRS Form 990?

• CompassPoint Nonprofit Genie: FAQ & Answers: Federal Form 990 - disclosure requirements
• Guidestar's Understanding the IRS's Form 990 with links that explains the purpose of the form, how to read and interpret the information
• 990 Online - more on law & requirements (not updated since May 1999) 
• IRS filing requirements and cumulative list of registered organizations

How to Obtain Copies

• Guidestar - you must register to view Form 990s, latest 3 years free 
• Foundation Center's Foundation Finder - 990-PFs
• Organization web sites & offices - you can request 990s for most recent 3 years and the original 1023 filing for nonprofit status, if filed after July 14, 1987.
• State agencies that regulate charities - listing from the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO)

Types of IRS Tax Exempt Organizations - 501(c)x refers to the IRS Code section that governs status

• 501(c)3 - Charitable & Other Nonprofit Organizations that can receive tax-deductable donations & this guide's primary topic
  • Life Cycle of a Public Charity
• 501(c)4 - Social Welfare Organizations
• 501(c)5 - Labor & Agricultural Organizations
• 501(c)6 - Business Leagues (associations, chambers of commerce, etc.)
• 501(c)7 - Social Clubs, etc.

Standards for Measuring Nonprofit Performance

Norms and Key Business Ratios - museums and other organizations are covered in Dun's and RMA's annual volumes

Nonprofit Financial Ratios and Operating Standards - guidelines & ratio norms developed for measuring nonprofits. For more information comparing these and other ratio standards, see: "Rating the Raters: An Assessment of Organizations and Publications that Rate/Rank Charitable Organizations" by the National Council of Nonprofit Associations; and
"The Rating Game" in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2005, vol. 3, Iss. 2, pages 38-45. 

• Standards for Charitable Accountability from BBB Wise Giving Alliance
• Charity Navigator's Methodolgy & Ratings  - nonprofits are evaulated against 8 measures with suggested ratio ranges for each nonprofit category
• American Institute of Philanthropy - criteria for their Ratings Guide 

Fund-Raising Benchmarks - sources for comparing metrics for major sectors 

• American Association of Fund Raising Counsel
  • Giving USA Information Desk1 HV29.A6 - key print source; pie charts online.
• Independent Sector
  • Giving and Volunteering in the United States - biennial
• Chronicle of Philanthropy - subscription required.  Ask a reference librarian to log you in.
  • Facts and Figures - many lists from 1998+ of top fund-raisers, corporate giving, foundation giving, online fund-raising, biggest donors, county-by-county generosity, etc. plus articles on studies by other organizations
• Foundation Center
  • FC Stats -  on grantmakers and grants, including awards by state
  • Corporate Giving - FAQs & sources
  • Fund Raising Trends & Analysis
• Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
  • Philanthropy Giving Index - semiannual outlook
  • Fund-Raising and Administrative Costs: Benchmarking & Best Practices - includes briefs & guides from the NCCS-sponsored Costs Study.
• Other: 21st Century Donor: Emerging Trends in a Changing Market -September 2002

Analysis of IRS and Other Data

• State of Nonprofit America  by Lester M. Salamon - click for table of contents
• Nonprofit Nation by Michael O'Neill
• Foundation Center - sources on salaries & compensation
• NonProfit Times - annual salary survey
• Data based on IRS returns:
  • Types of Tax Exempt Organizatons
  • New Nonprofit Almanac Information Desk 1 HD2769.2 .U6 N47 2002 - 1977-1998 state by state analysis including employment & financial data.  Update with the next sources.
  • National Center for Charitable Statistics - most detailed state & sector tables
  • Internal Revenue Services: Tax Exempt Statistics.
    • Compendium of Studies
    • Statistics of Income annual report .

Social Outcomes Measurements - new guidelines for nonprofits and for-profit social ventures, to measure how well missions are accomplished

Double Bottom Line Report: Assessing Social Impact in Double Bottom Line Ventures; Methods Catalog - report from RISE comparing the measures below.

Analysts Reports

BBB Wise Giving Alliance: Charity Reports - on large organizations which solicit nationally for funds

American Institute of Philanthropy - ratings only, Charity Rating Guide & Watchdog Report are on order.

Better Business Bureaus - brief reports on local charities and for-profits, mostly indicating whether or not there have been recent complaints, and if resolved. 

Charity Navigator - on the largest 3000 501(c)3 charities that solicit individual givers

GuideStar Analysts Reports  - on over 200,000 charities, but available for a fee.
See sample. 

Finding Articles on Organizations & Issues

For Articles on Organizations Use:

Factiva - Example:   newman's own and atleast8 newman*

LexisNexis Academic - Use Company Dossier, and in Guided News Search try this example:
             newman! own           in Headline
     AND atleast5(newman!)     in Article Text

For Articles on Issues Use:

ProQuest - examples
      "venture capital" AND (nonprofit* or philanth*)
     "venture philanthropy"       in Full Text

EBSCOhost - search Business Source Complete for Harvard Business Review articles and Academic Search Premier

InfoTrac - use Expanded Academic Index and the General Business File

Catalog of Nonprofit Literature - online index from the Foundation Center

Key Journals Covering the Nonprofit Sector

Use Horn Library's Online Journal Finder to locate full text articles in one of our databases.

General Business

• Fast Company
• Harvard Business Review & Working Knowledge
• McKinsey Quarterly
• Slate

Nonprofit Trade Journals

• Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Foundation News & Commentary
• Nonprofit Times
• Nonprofit World
• Stanford Social Innovation Review - via ProQuest

Nonprofit Academic Journals

• Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
• Nonprofit Management & Leadership
• Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary & Non-Profit Organizations

 Key Consulting Company Sites

• Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting group affiliated with Bain & Company
• McKinsey & Company Nonprofit Practice