Goodnation's nonprofit selection process

Goodnation is committed to helping donors find and fund the most high-performing nonprofits serving the communities they care about

To ensure that we recommend organizations that demonstrate financial health, responsible stewardship of donations and a proven track record of impact, Goodnation gathers data from professional foundations, nonprofits, databases and publicly filed tax documents to score nonprofits on the following categories:

Foundation support: The top 10 foundations by size in the United States spend over $1B annually on research, due diligence and on-going monitoring of nonprofit grantees; Goodnation is built on this substantial body of work. Each nonprofit must have a recent grant of $10,000 or more from a professional foundation with a dedicated staff, which indicates that the nonprofit has been submitted to and passed a careful review process. In fact, most nonprofits on the platform have support from multiple professional foundations, having gone through individual due diligence processes with each one, as well as on-going monitoring.‍

Financial health:

• Program Expense & Revenue Growth: We compare program expenses and revenues, year over year, for sustainability and growth.
• Budget Surplus: We look for balanced budgets and for organizations that maintain a budget surplus rather than a deficit, year over year.
• Assets to Liabilities Ratio: We compare assets to liabilities, looking for a positive ratio.
• Liquidity: We compare liquid assets to expenses, looking for stable liquidity.

Governance:

• Board Composition: We look to the size of each organization’s board and whether the nonprofit is managed by individuals who are connected outside of the organization.
• Compliant and Best Practices: We assess whether the organization has delegated control to non-employees or diverted funds from its budget, and whether the board both documents its own meetings and reviews the organization’s financial documents.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Funding nonprofits led by diverse voices not only increases equity in philanthropy, but also closes outcome gaps, as the best solutions to problems come from those most affected by them. We strive to include nonprofit giving options that are led and/or governed by a variety of voices and perspectives.

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Nonprofits who pass our scoring process are then invited to submit information directly to Goodnation on their mission, leadership, impact and what sets their work apart. All of the above information is included in their profile page on the Goodnation Platform.

Nonprofits interested in joining us can learn more and apply here!

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