Nonprofit Rating Systems

In the past few years efforts to use common measures to assess and compare nonprofit performance seem to have multiplied. Interest in comparing nonprofit performance is in a dramatic upswing, and new/different sets of common measures seem to emerge frequently. Some sets of measures have been developed for niche fields, while others seek to compare across the entire sector. As evaluators, we should be aware of these efforts and aware of their possible implications. This blog post explored a number of questions related to the topic of nonprofit rating systems and common measures, e.g., Is it possible to develop meaningful common measures for a field as diverse as the nonprofit sector? What can we learn from the experiences of fairly well-known, sector-wide approaches such as Charity Navigator, GreatNonprofits, etc.? Considering what we know about existing approaches, what is the effect on traditional program evaluation?

 

Bibliographic Details
Author	Johanna Morariu and Debra Natenshon
Publisher	Innovation Network
Publication Date	September 24, 2010
Publication City	Washington, DC
Publication Work
Resource Type	Opinion (blog, editorial)
Resource Focus	Program Evaluation Planning Data Collection Analysis and Reflection Action and Improvement
Audience	Practitioners Evaluators
Region	North America
Keywords	NPF Week Johanna Morariu Debra Natenshon Center for What Works Innovation Network Charity Navigator GreatNonprofits innonet.org Evaluation Format lesson learned nonprofit rating system
Submitted to Point K	July 14, 2014 - 11:50am