How to find non-profits for $ donation?

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

I recently discovered the wonders of my employer's matching gifts program (they pay $2 for every $1 I give). I'd like to donate somewhat locally (Somerville/Boston) but I can't really find a list of 501(c)(3) non-profits, and I can't come up with any organizations off the top of my head. Does anyone know where I can find such a list, or if not, ideas about where to donate? In general, the company supports higher education, cultural, environmental, and community-based social service organizations. Thanks!

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

If you sign up for a free account at Guidestar.org and click on their "advanced search" link, you can type in the city and state where you want to find an organization, and you'll get a list. Checking out Somerville, it gives me 355 results. Not all of the results have detailed descriptions, but most have enough info to give you a headstart.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

There's a directory of non-profit organizations at GuideStar.org--look on the right side of the home page, in a blue box, to find the link. You can enter only location in the search form and get an unsorted list, or enter different parameters to sort the list.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Heh...great minds... :)

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Hee! You were posting while I was dithering with how to describe how to get to the linkie.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

You could also check out Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org) and type "Somerville, MA", "Cambridge, MA", etc. into their search bar, and you'll get a list of organizations in those cities. You can click through any result and get a pretty detailed report of their program areas, efficiency and organizational capacity ratings (1-4 stars), income/expenses overview, net assets, contact info, leadership info, mission statement, and comments. All of that info is available without signing up for an account.

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

Thanks, this site is great! They don't have a ton of charities specifically in Somerville, but the information they do have is really enlightening. It's nice to know that when you give a donation, it's being spent on the cause you have in mind and not somebody's salary.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Glad you're finding it useful!

As someone who works for a charity, though, I feel it necessary to note that paying people's salaries is part of spending on the cause, and some of your money will go to that if you give an unrestricted gift. Someone's got to do the work; it doesn't get done all on its own.

The big question is the ratio of administrative spending to program spending. Ideally, you'd want to see administrative/fundraising expenses at no more than 25% of spending. Lower is better. More is the kiss of death as far as efficiency ratings are concerned.

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

Of course! It seems like anything more than 1/3 going to administrative expenses is too much, and hopefully it would be much lower than that. Also, the Charity Navigator website itself is a non-profit so perhaps I can donate to them as well.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Heh, just making sure. I sometimes get calls from people who are...confused. :-}

And yeah, if a charity is spending 1/3 of its money on administrative and funding expenses, there is likely something weird going on and you should definitely ask for an explanation or a copy of the annual report. The one I work for hovers around 15-20%.

[taranwan.livejournal.com]

I would actually completely disagree with using the ratio of admin expenses to programming as a metric of how "good" a charity is. I've been working in nonprofits for 12 years. Nonprofits have expenses. Most of these expenses are personnel. Nonprofits also have infrastructure and capital expenses. These all cost money. Using how much a nonprofits spends on admin or personnel doesn't tell anyone how effective the organization is on meeting its mission. That's really what you want to look for and that's what you should invest in: does the organization meet its mission.

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean, but for me, evaluating how effective they are at meeting their mission is much more difficult and not something I may have the expertise or resources to investigate. However, I can easily find out how much of the money I give them is going to my cause. It's objective and easy to standardize. At least if the administrative overhead is not astronomical, I can take some comfort that they might know what they're doing. I'm not trying to split hairs between 18% and 19%, I'm just saying 40% overhead is a little much -- and if I have the choice between two nonprofits I care about, both of them helpful but one of them more efficient, I know which one I'll choose.

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't quite agree with that. It might be true for very large npos, but in smaller ones, you can have higher ratios and be doing a great job. This is true for several reasons:

Economies of scale and the lack thereof. Yes, larger npos are going to be more efficient, but that doesn't mean there's "something weird going on" at your local shelter or food pantry.

More mutitasking among staff, which means the financials don't reflect reality as well as they do with greater specialization. Plus, smaller nonprofits are likely to spend less time finessing their financial statements. For example, our E.D. spends barely half his time on administrivia, but our accountant continues to log his time as 100% Mgmt. & GA

In-kind donations. Smaller npos often receive lots of these: volunteer time, donated clothes, food, etc. And, its often impossible to reflect this in the financials. If all of these donations appeared in their financials, the npo would look bigger and the ratio of Mgmt & FR expenses would appear smaller.

This is my experience as someone who has worked for several small npos.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Another recommendation is idealist.org.

[toddpage.livejournal.com]

Well, this is so not the place, maybe?

But I just signed up for a 125 mile bike ride called harbor to the bay - 100% of the funds raised go to the charities, and it is a 501(c) [I checked!] non-profit.

All the money I raise will be going towards the Aids Action Committee of Massachusetts (http://www.aac.org/site/PageServer), a local group devoted to ending the reign of aids.

It's a bit hacky to bring this up here, but I am just starting out, and I am hoping to raise at least $1000, so every person I can talk to helps.

If you're interested: https://www.harbortothebay.org/personal.asp?RIDER=129

If not, I wish you the best of luck in finding a charity that fits yours/your companies guidelines :D

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

I can give a shameless plug for Odaiko New England (http://onetaiko.org/support.html) which brings taiko (Japanese drumming) to schools and events all over new england and is a 501(c)(3) non-profits which I volenteer with. We're a small enough non-profit that every dollar counts.

[turil.livejournal.com]

What kinds of things do you want more of in your community?

[masswich.livejournal.com]

The Somerville Community Corporation, the local community development corporation, is always in need of funds for their programs in community organizing, student mediation, and affordable housing. Also the Somerville Homeless Coalition and Groundworks Somerville (urban enviromentalism).

[elements.livejournal.com]

I heartily second these recommendations as local orgs that are critical to our quality of life as a community in Somerville.

[ron_newman]

and I'd add Community Action Agency of Somerville to that list.

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

I'll plug Somerville Mental Health; they see lots of folks to pay the bills, but their heart lies in working with poor folks, sick folks, and folks with no other help.

[publius513.livejournal.com]

My fiance works for YouthBuild, which is headquartered in Davis. I'm sure their website has info about donations.

[mon-deluge.livejournal.com]

My personal favorite non-profit is BARCC (Boston Area Rape Crisis Center) in Cambridge and Boston. It offers amazing (free!) services helping all survivors of sexual assault and even their partners and families. It has saved a lot of people's lives and is a great resource that this area is so lucky to have and hopefully will never lose.

[librarybrandy.livejournal.com]

Public libraries and schools could almost certainly use some extra funds. I know libraries can't actually take donations, but that's what the Friends of the Library groups are for--they're our 501(c)3 non-profit fund-raising arms. Money given to the Friends groups typically goes to fund programs for children, teens, and adults; buy furniture and other display pieces for the library; provide technology (fax machines, photocopiers), and assist with library PR.

(I work at the library up in Wilmington and these are some of the things our Friends do--I assume the Somerville Library group would do the same sorts of things, but you could ask them specifically, if you wanted.)

Middlesex County Boys and Girls Clubs

[rrwf.livejournal.com]

I could not more emphatically recommend the Middlesex County Boys and Girls Clubs. I'm a member of the Board of Directors and would be happy to talk with you further about the great work our clubs are doing--your donation can make a difference to the lives of Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, and Everett children. The website is a little in-flux, but you can learn more at kidsclubs.org.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

Somerville Homeless Coalition (http://somervillehomelesscoalition.org/openhouse/index.html?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=525&width=951) has until Labor Day to raise $25,000, in which case an anonymous donor will match it with another $25,000.

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Theatre@First (http://www.theatreatfirst.org/membership.shtml) is a fantastic local community theater company, performing predominantly in Somerville/Cambridge locations. Contact Beckie for more information, particularly about coming in at the "sponsor" level of membership.

Disclaimer: I'm a regular participant in T@F productions, usually as set designer or technical director. That said, support your local arts! ;^)

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Food For Free (http://foodforfree.org/) is a local organization that gathers food from farmer's markets, grocery stores, and the like, and distributes it to food pantries and meal programs in the area.

They do great work on a skimpy budget. Plus, their development director is an occasional contributor to this comm, and my awesome spouse.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I'd like to plug a terrific local (I prefer to donate locally, too) organization which has been around for a very long time and has recently seen a large funding decline. It is CASPAR (Cambridge and Somerville Program for Alcohol Reduction - I think). It works with alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless, etc. Running everything from housing to shelters to its' own used-goods store, to counseling. It's a very worthy organization and the City of Somerville is in dire need of their services right now (especially because Cambridge Health Alliance is planning to close its' 26-bed detox center which is usually filled to capacity.