May 2009

Last month, our partner GreatNonprofits celebrated Earth Month with the Green Choice campaign, in which they asked the public to submit reviews and ratings about environmental nonprofits. During the course of the campaign, 26,000 people visited www.greatnonprofits.org, submitting 835 reviews for 104 nonprofits. (The reviews also can be seen in the organizations' reports on GuideStar, as reviews posted on GreatNonprofits automatically appear on GuideStar, and vice versa.)

"The results provide surprising insights into the kinds of organizations that people regard as effective," stated Perla Ni, founder and CEO of GreatNonprofits. "Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and other large environmental groups were available for review, but they didn’t see the kinds of results that their leaner counterparts did. For example, NRDC got only 5 reviews, whereas the tiny Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group garnered 44."

The following nonprofits had the most positive reviews in their budget ranges or categories and were named the winners of the 2009 Green Choice Awards:

• Annual Budget Less Than $250,000—Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group, San Francisco, Calif.
• Annual Budget between $250,000 and $1 Million—Slide Ranch, Muir Beach, Calif.
• Annual Budget More Than $1 Million—Chewonki Foundation, Wiscasset, Maine
• Best of Northeast—Global Links, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Best of Southeast—Solar Electric Light Fund, Washington, D.C.
• Best of Midwest—PLACE, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Best of Southwest—Center for Biological Diversity, Tucson, Ariz.
• Best of West—Foundation for Sustainable Development, San Francisco, Calif.

"There are so many great nonprofits who don't have an advertising budget and are not household names. Similar to what Yelp has done for small restaurants, we enable grassroots nonprofits to gain recognition," Ni continued. "Now there's an even playing field through the genuine testimonials and reviews of people who have seen the work of a nonprofit first-hand. Donors and volunteers now have a source of information for which nonprofits are accountable and effective."

Read more about the 2009 Green Choice Awards >
Read more about GreatNonprofit reviews on GuideStar >

Suzanne E. Coffman, May 2009
© 2009, GuideStar USA, Inc.

Suzanne Coffman is GuideStar's director of communications and editor of the Newsletter.