Best Web Gateways to Nonprofit Resources
The nonprofit sector's presence on the web is huge and digesting the ever-changing content is a Herculean feat. If you are looking for directory trees and links to guide you to nonprofit management resources, these very impressive web sites are a good place to start.
Foundation Center
The Foundation Center bills itself as "your gateway to philanthropy on the World Wide Web." The site includes original content as well as over one thousand annotated links to philanthropy-related web sites of interest to grantseekers and grantmakers. (Look under researching philanthropy / nonprofit links.) The Center provides (on-line or e-mail) the weekly Philanthropy News Digest, with "comprehensive coverage of the people, organizations, and ideas shaping the philanthropic sector," and the weekly RFP Bulletin, a listserve summarizing RFP announcements issued by US foundations, public charities, and corporate grantmakers.
Links count: about 1,000
Links check: about 97% good
Design rating: Five stars
Free Management Library
The Library is part of the Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits (MAP) web site. MAP is a nonprofit organization with a mission to "to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations to achieve mission-driven results." Most of the MAP web site promotes its classes, workshops, services and publications. But the Library contains thousands of links billed to be useful to nonprofit AND for-profit businesses. Lack of annotations, dead links and primitive interface are drawback, but the sites does say "free," not "fancy."
Links count: over 5,000
Links check: about 90% good
Design rating: Four stars
GuideStar
This project of Philanthropic Research, Inc. bills itself as "the national database of nonprofit organizations" and promises to "revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice with information." The site provides access to information about more than 850,000 individual nonprofit organizations. This can include information submitted by the organizations and information taken from the Form 990s. GuideStar also provides a directory of "web sites of interest to nonprofit organizations." Javascript is used to open the linked sites into little pop-up windows with the navigation bar turned off. Very Uncool. Also note that listed organizations must agree to link back to GuideStar.
Links count: 187 (in the directory tree. Thousands of links to individual nonprofit organizations are found in Guidestar database.)
Links check: about 90% good
Design rating: N/A
Internet Nonprofit Center
Providing "information for and about nonprofit organizations," the Internet Nonprofit Center is portal to over 800 other web sites, but also contains the impressive "Nonprofit FAQ" -- hundreds of questions and answers covering many aspects of nonprofit management. Nonprofit Online News is updated almost daily and is also available as a weekly e-mail bulletin. This site's charming but quirky interface has gotten both less quirky and less charming. (Not recommended for those with poor eyesight.) Maintained by the Evergreen State Society of Seattle, WA.
Links count: about 800
Links check: about 90% good
Design rating: Two stars
The Management Center Links Library
The Management Center provides customized management assistance for nonprofits throughout California. The Links Library has 586 annoted links in various categories. Allows visitors to add sites and rate the sites, although no one seems particularly interested in rating them. Maybe because too many are broken.
Links count: 586
Links check: about 70% good
Design rating: Four stars
GuideStar
This project of Philanthropic Research, Inc. bills itself as "the national database of nonprofit organizations" and promises to "revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice with information." The site provides access to information about more than 850,000 individual nonprofit organizations. This can include information submitted by the organizations and information taken from the Form 990s. GuideStar also provides a directory of "web sites of interest to nonprofit organizations." Javascript is used to open the linked sites into little pop-up windows with the navigation bar turned off. Very Uncool. Also note that listed organizations must agree to link back to GuideStar.
Links count: 187 (in the directory tree. Thousands of links to individual nonprofit organizations are found in Guidestar database.)
Links check: about 90% good
Design rating: N/A
Network for Good
Network for Good is a nonprofit ePhilanthropy portal representing a collaboration of several corporations (AOL, Cisco, Yahoo), foundations and associations "who share the desire to foster the informed use of the Internet for civic participation and philanthropy." The main page enables citizens to donate, volunteer, and speak out on issues they care about. The site also has a nonprofit resource section, with valuable content intended to help nonprofit organizations use technology (among other things). Outside links are kept in a Network for Good frame set. This site replaces Helping.org.
Links count: about 700 (some local content)
Links check: about 99% good
Design rating: N/A
Nonprofit and Charitable Organizations (from About.com)
About.com, "the Human Internet," is a commercial site maintaining web directory trees on a myriad of subjects. Expect to see annoying pop-up advertisements and impolite About.com banners framing each linked web site. But also expect very comprehensive sets of links. Especially useful to nonprofit newbies are the "one-stop-shop" and "how-to" sections that provide very basic information (e.g., "how to prepare an annual report" and "first rule of fundraising"). Each About.com topic is under the stewardship of a content exeprt. Stan Hutton, a program officer at the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation and co-author of the Nonprofit Kit for Dummies, manages this section.
Links count: about 470
Links check: about 95% good
Design rating: Four stars
Nonprofit and Public Management Center (NPM) Resource Page
www.umich.edu/~nonproft/resources.html
The resource pages at NPM are long lists of links to other web pages. The mission of NPM is to "advance and promote understanding of the contributions of nonprofit and public organizations and the challenges of leading them successfully." The remainder of the web site has information of relevance mostly to faculty and students at U of M.
Links count: about 120
Links check: about 93% good
Design rating: Three stars
NonProfit Gateway
The official US government's NonProfit Gateway bills itself as "a network of links to Federal government information and services." It links all Cabinet Departments and many independent agencies and contains information about grants, regulations, taxes, and other services. The site is the result of an initiative of the The White House Office of Public Liaison. However, it appears to be dormant, having last been updated in 1997. Better to look elsewhere.
Links count: about 370
Links check: about 60% good
Design rating: Two stars
Strategic Communications in the Digital Age
www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit/toolkit.html
Formerly "Benton's Best Practices Toolkit." The theme of this site is "Strategic communications in the digital age – A best practices toolkit for achieving your organization's mission." Its large directory tree is divided into five themes "Think it Through," "Put it to Work," "What to Watch," "Peer2Peer Learning," and "Funders' Corner." Within each theme are four to six pages with annotated links to other sites, plus original content including case studies, and discussion boards. The site is, attractive, functional and comprehensive. But even the "What to Watch" page was four months old. (That is over three years old in "Internet years"!) Maintained by the Benton Foundation of Washington, DC.
Links count: about 300
Links check: about 95% good
Design rating: Three stars
Notes:
Viewpoints expressed on this page are the personal opinions of Mark C. Hoffman (HoffmanM@gvsu.edu) and do not reflect official viewpoints of AoM or the PNP section.
The links count and checking was done manually and using web link checker software (Xenu).
The design ratings are based on four criteria: aesthetics, functionality, navigation, and content. The judges were students in an Information Technology Workshop at the School of Public and Nonprofit Administration, Grand Valley State University, held 15-16 February 2002.
