New Report: Native-Serving Nonprofits and Charity Watchdog Agencies

First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) recently examined the amount of funding provided to Native American organizations and causes by large foundations and community foundations. That research documented declines in investments by large foundations as well as dismal investments by community foundations. From this research, First Nations also learned that most Native-serving nonprofit organizations were not evaluated or ranked by major charity watchdog organizations such as Charity Navigator, GuideStar, CharityWatch and others.

Charity watchdog agencies are important disseminators of information to donors, especially individual donors, about nonprofit organizations. Thus, the lack of presence of Native-serving nonprofits on those agencies' websites can be problematic. This lack can cause an information gap between community organizations doing important work to grow strong and healthy Native communities and various potential donors. Not being listed or ranked with these charity watchdog agencies can prevent donors from considering making contributions to unlisted nonprofits.

While some Native nonprofits may not meet the criteria to be included in all charity watchdog assessments, there are some outlets they can consider for inclusion. Participating in these assessment programs and striving to meet their standards may, over the long term, lead to additional financial resources, raise awareness of their work and bolster their ability to serve their communities.

First Nations has prepared a new report about this issue titled Native-Serving Nonprofits and Charity Watchdog Agencies. This brief provides possible reasons for the lack of inclusion of Native-serving organizations on charity watchdog sites, plus it details some steps that organizations can take to increase their visibility on some of these sites and beyond.

The report is available as a free download from the Knowledge Center on First Nations' website at https://firstnations.org/knowledge-center/strengthening-nonprofit/reports. (Please note that if you don't already have one, you will need to create a free online account to download the report. Your free account will also give you access to a wide variety of other materials and resources on the Knowledge Center.)

https://firstnations.org/knowledge-center/strengthening-nonprofit/reports