President & CEO's Report for February
February 1, 2009
One of our core values here at Charity Navigator is to strive for continuous improvement of our services. To that end, we have a variety of projects going on right now so that users, like you, can get an even richer experience when you visit us. For instance, if you enter the name of a charity into our search engine and we do not currently rate it, two new options become available to you:
- We may be able to suggest to you some other charities in the same category that we do rate that you can consider as an alternative.
- We have developed a more detailed guide for you to use if you decide to review the charity’s financial report to the IRS (the 990 informational reports that we use in our rating system). Along with the guide, we are delighted to announce our collaboration with The Foundation Center to make available to you their 990 Finder. Just like us, The Foundation Center offers this database completely free no matter how far back you want to go!
We are also working on some other exciting enhancements to our rating tool and an additional information tab for each charity, but that is for another day. In addition, on the outcome measurement front that I discussed last time, we are now in the thick of researching the current state of tools that are available. We are also developing our own internal outcome measurement system so that we “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk”.
On the international front, I will be going to Russia this month to speak on the topic of transparency and accountability to a conference of leading nonprofits in the country. We have also been contacted for our advice and assistance by individuals and organizations in Canada, Latin America, Europe and other parts of Asia. Apparently the interest in guiding intelligent giving and rating charities is now a worldwide phenomenon!
All the best,
Ken BergerP.S. I just joined Twitter. You can follow my daily musings there under the name – kenscommentary.
