Awhile back, I referenced a study from Pew Internet Research indicating that 24% of adult online Americans have posted online comments or ‘reviews’ about products and services.
I mentioned that I thought there was an ‘aggregator’ of such feedback for nonprofits, but couldn’t recall it at the time.
Mal Warwick filled in the blank by pointing me to GreatNonprofits, a website where you can furnish a review of the nonprofit of your choice.
Cool, I thought. I immediately paid a visit and was impressed. Led by a seasoned nonprofit executive, Perla Ni, founder and former publisher of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Funded by the Kellogg Foundation and other mainstream funders. Great Board and advisors. Tied into GuideStar. Just what the doctor ordered!
So I used the Search function to pick an organization purely at random, and read the two reviews on it. The group shall remain nameless!
One was a glowing review from a totally smitten donor who had nothing but praise for this charity, which she perceived as doing amazing good works for poor people in India.
However, the other was written by a (erstwhile!) donor, who upon visiting India on an unrelated trip, stumbled upon what he perceived to be extremely profligate — to the point of ethically questionable — spending by this same charity.
Wow! What do you make of that?
My sense is that GreatNonprofits aspires and prefers to do what its name suggests … help would-be donors find credible, perhaps previously unknown, charities to support.
But what about the disguntled … and even further, the ‘whistleblowers’ who suspect something improper might be going on?
Once you open the door, the door is opened!
Perhaps GreatNonprofits should scan the reviews it hosts, and create a ‘watchlist’ of sorts to balance out the ‘Top Rated’ category they already provide!
Tom
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Shame on you, Tom! With all your experience in the statistics-driven field of direct mail, how can you base your complaint about GreatNonprofits on a sample of ONE? Surely, you could have searched for reviews on at least 5-10 organizations. In fact, I can tell you that examples like the one you cite are very rare. As it turns out, most reviews are very positive, and those organizations that have been working to generate reviews from their supporters are receiving great value from the effort. Those positive reviews boost staff and board morale, can be used in fundraising — not just with individual donors but with foundations as well.
I can assure you that Guidestar would never have teamed up with GreatNonprofits, much less expanded the collaboration, if they were having problems of the sort you cite. Stay tuned for more news as GreatNonprofits continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Hey Mal,
Sorry if you took this as a complaint. I think GreatNonprofits is a great service.
My point is simply that once you open the door to everyone’s opinion — just like Amazon and Zagats — you have to live with the “great” and the “not so great.”
I’m suggesting that GreatNonprofits close the loop by acknowledging that all reviews will not be positive. Indeed some might be extremely negative … and accurate.
It’s great to — in effect — help the cream rise to the top. But it’s equally valuable to the nonprofit community — and to prospective donors — to help the sludge sink to the bottom.
Let the users of GreatNonprofits make up their own minds.
Tom
Mal and Tom, you make me laugh. Thanks for waking me up this Monday morning after a weekend of events.
I hope that most people know to take reviews with a grain of salt. No one can make everyone happy. And, some people are just full of negativity…and usually ignorance. They just feel safe to share both online (Like me right now! Ha! Ha!). We will never know if that is a disgruntle ex-employee or a hate-the-world type who just posts negative reviews all over the place. Possibly he is just ignorant and didn’t understand what he saw…did he research it further?
To help this situation, how can we as nonprofits effectively market this review opportunity to those who love us so the positive outweighs the negative? My organization is listed and we have one wave of reviews when I promoted it via Facebook. What have others done to get lots of positive reviews? Do people actually notice and actually choose to give via this website because of reviews? How is this website being marketed? Is it worth our time? I have to admit that I haven’t put a lot of energy into it because I really didn’t know the ROI.
Thanks for all your great posts!
-Kim
Great comments….I agree a grain of salt is necessary when reading reviews, and an acceptance that most happy people do nothing. Additionally, to reference the original post, “profligate spending” can simply be spending with no context. I love reviews…they are a clue on what the next question should be, not an answer.
Keep up the good work.
Katrina VanHuss
Tom, I thought was great so don’t be paranoid about it. I understood what you were saying and you know what, what’s wrong with a bad review? Nothing. I’ve always thought there should be a warning list of unethical jonprofits and unethical people who work in the sector, they do the same with unhygienic restaurants!!!! Anyway sounds like a great site, thanks.