Researching Charities

Here are some resources that you can use to research charities. A bold asterisk (*) indicates the best place to start.

Web Sites for reports on charities

*GuideStar - http://www.guidestar.org/

GuideStar lets you look up a charitable organizaton to find information about its finances and activities. The result is a short report, with links at left to detailed information, including Internal Revenue Service form 990, which describes the organization's income and expenses in detail. The link to "Full Report" gives information provided by the organization on its mission, objectives, activities, and accomplishments, along with a brief view of its finances. It is necessary to register to view the detailed information, but registration is quick and free.

Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance - http://www.give.org/reports/index.asp

National organizations are listed alphabetically. Click on the name of an organization to find more information.

National Center for Charitable Statistics - http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/FAQ/index.php?category=45

Maintains files of information on charities. For many types of information, free registration is necessary. Somewhat difficult to use, requiring the user to build a report using computations from a database. Best for informations on multiple charities.

GuideStar for Donors - http://www.guidestar.org/using/donors.jsp

Information and advice on donating to charities, including "Ten Tips for Donors" and "A Donor's Bill of Rights." There is also a tutorial on reading the IRS Form 990.

Periodicals

Indexes

*Catalog of Nonprofit Literature

Indexes charity- and nonprofit-related publications, including the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Some articles and reports are available in full text. Try putting the name of a charity in the keyword search space to find news about that organization. Results are shown in alphabetical order. To find the most recent news, click on the pulldown sort menu at the top of the result screen and choose "Year sort."

The library has subscriptions to the following publications, shelved by title in the Periodicals area.

• *The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Contributions
• Grassroots Fundraising Journal
• Planned Giving Today