Charity Navigator Rates Nonprofits' Culture & Community by Assessing Feedback Practices

Charity Navigator continues to increase the depth of its ratings and provides a more holistic view of nonprofit effectiveness

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Charity Navigator

Mar 01, 2021, 08:00 ET

SADDLE BROOK, N.J., Mar. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Charity Navigator, the world's largest evaluator of nonprofits, has announced the release of the Culture & Community beacon as part of its Encompass Rating System.

The initial version of the Culture & Community beacon is focused on determining whether nonprofit organizations engage in constituent feedback practices with their program beneficiaries and other stakeholders. This information provides the millions of donors that utilize Charity Navigator ratings annually with insight into how nonprofit organizations listen to and act upon building relationships with their donors, funders, program beneficiaries, and partners. The methodology leveraged for the Culture & Community beacon, Constituent Feedback, was developed in collaboration with feedback experts and leading nonprofit infrastructure platforms, collectively referred to as the "Irritants."

"Starting today, more than 4,800 nonprofit profiles on Charity Navigator feature Culture & Community scores — this is a part of our continued effort to provide a more holistic view of nonprofit health and effectiveness," says Michael Thatcher, President and CEO of Charity Navigator. "Nonprofits that are attentive and responsive to concerns and ideas raised by beneficiaries can be more effective in serving them, particularly when they establish stronger relationships with them, promote greater equity, and empower constituents in ways that can help to ensure better long-term outcomes."

Mary Marx, President & CEO of Pace Center for Girls comments, "Feedback plays an integral role in shaping our organization, ensuring that our programs and advocacy efforts are grounded in the principles and practice of participatory evaluation and equity and inclusion. We applaud Charity Navigator in recognizing the importance of feedback and integrating it into its rating system."

With future releases of the Encompass Rating System, the Culture & Community beacon will evaluate several factors related to community connectedness and the health of an organization's culture, including people operations/HR, connectedness and engagement with the constituents and communities served, reputation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) measures.

Donors interested in learning more about the Encompass Rating System, including the Culture & Community beacon, can visit charitynavigator.org/encompass. Nonprofit leaders looking to earn a Culture & Community beacon score can visit Guidestar by Candid and complete the How We Listen section of their organizations' profiles.

ABOUT CHARITY NAVIGATOR
Charity Navigator, the world's largest and most-utilized independent nonprofit evaluator, empowers donors of all sizes with free access to data, tools, and resources to guide philanthropic decision making. Through Charity Navigator's ratings, nonprofits are equipped with the nonprofit sector's premier trust indicator and a powerful platform to raise awareness and funds. Charity Navigator does not charge the organizations it evaluates, ensuring unbiased evaluations, nor does it charge the public for this trusted data. As a result, Charity Navigator, a 501(c)(3) public charity itself, depends on support from individuals, corporations, and foundations that believe it provides a much-needed service to America's charitable givers

ABOUT THE IRRITANTS & CONSTITUENT FEEDBACK
The Constituent Feedback methodology is based on The Core Principles of Constituent Feedback, which describes what it means to listen and respond to feedback well. The collective driving the advancement, promotion, and data collection of Constituent Feedback is referred to as the Irritants — this includes Charity Navigator, Feedback Labs, Candid, GlobalGiving, Keystone Accountability, 60 Decibels, Bridges Fund Management, Development Gateway, Listen4Good/Fund for Shared Insight, Outsell Inc, Jessie Ball duPont Fund, and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance.

SOURCE Charity Navigator