December 2006

Dear Friend:

We end this year full of gratitude to so many people and organizations for helping to make this the best year in GuideStar's history.

• Thanks to our many nonprofit partners for sharing our commitment to transparency and accountability.
• Thanks to our many users, not only for using us but also for giving us advice on how we can improve.
• Thanks to our customers for their business and their encouragement to build new tools and services.
• Thanks to the many foundations and corporations that supported our service.
• Thanks to our volunteer board of directors for their long hours of work and their constant good counsel.
• And finally, thanks to everyone who participated in GuideStar's fifth annual nonprofit economic survey. We appreciate the time you took to tell us about your organizations' experiences during the first nine months of 2006.

You can read more about the survey in this Newsletter. The information you shared with us helps my colleagues and me answer a question we hear often during the giving season: "How are nonprofits doing this year?" That question in turn opens the door to discussions of the sector's complexities and the challenges that nonprofits face. It's a tremendous opportunity to increase donor understanding beyond the simplistic use of program ratios and, we hope, to inspire increased giving.

The survey also reinforced for me yet again our sector's importance to our society. The vast majority—72 percent—of participants said that demand for their organizations' services grew during the first nine months of this year compared to the first nine months of 2005. This is the fourth year in a row in which the survey reported greater demand. Four years of increasing demand—what better evidence of the role that nonprofits play in people's lives? What better evidence of the need to support those organizations' work?

I know that I don't need to convince you of the contributions that nonprofits make. So let me close by noting that all of us at GuideStar wish you every success as 2006 draws to an end and by offering our congratulations for all you do on behalf of our fellow citizens.

Happy holidays,

Bob Ottenhoff
President and CEO
president@guidestar.org