Evaluation of Your Organization by Donors | Compendium

Most public libraries are not rated on Charity Navigator (CN), which provides guidance to donors about the financial health, accountability, tranparency and results of nonprofits.  CN bases its results on the 990 form and requires that a nonprofit has completed seven 990’s before they are evaluated.  (See other criteria they use to determine if they will rate an organization).

If your library is not rated on Charity Navigator, how can donors evaluate your library?

Charity Navigator offers potential donors a checklist of things to look for when their intended charity is not rated by them.

To help you out, CN does provide a non-rated tab when you search for your organization.  Many organizations may come up containing that name.  Select yours and a link to the organization’s 990 is available as well as some basic information about the library.  Your library’s 990 is also accessible to the public on GuideStar.  Both CN and Guidestar have free registration.

What can your library learn from this checklist?  For additional insight, look at the libraries that are rated on CN.