Understanding Guidestar 101

Just like most things today, there is a handy and easily accessible database available when researching nonprofit organizations. Specifically for the purpose of this post GuideStar USA was used to explore a variety of nonprofits. GuiseStar USA is an information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies and in 2010, their database contained over 5 million IRS forms 990 on 1.9 million organizations. GuideStar offers a wide variety of ways to utilize the information presented including data digitization, database management and development, nonprofit services, web site operations and research.

The 990 Form: 

The IRS requires many forms to be submitted in order to ensure that organizations maintain their nonprofit status and the 990 Form is one of them. The 990 form provides the public with financial information about an organization and is used by government organizations to ensure they are not abusing their tax-exempt status. To explore this form, I researched Trinity University on GuideStar.

A shot of Trinity University's campus.
Image by Hillary Everts.

As to be expected, the 990 form includes vital information concerning various aspects of the organizations finances. Here are some pieces about Trinity:

• Trinity spent $2,251,645 on fundraising for the 2011 fiscal year.
• Trinity held $1,200,388,142 in total assets for the 2011 fiscal year.

The 990 includes not only fiscal information but also information about employees and members of the Board of Directors. Here are a few items about the people of Trinity:

• At Trinity, the highest paid employee for the 2011 fiscal year was Professor Phillip Cooley, the Prassel Distinguished Professor who earned $244,553.
• Out of the listed Board of Directors, Sharon J. Bell  serves as the Honorary Vice Chair.

Branching out the Search: 
GuideStar also offers the ability to search nonprofits based on a specific location or field of interest. I have been interested in pursuing fine arts management for a while now and utilized the the advanced search page to see what nonprofits were available in that field. Based on that search, this is what I found:

Outside of Bass Performance Hall in Ft Worth, TX.
 Image by James Brandon.

• "Fine Arts" originally turned up 2,826 results but then chose to narrow down the results even further by specifying fine arts nonprofits located in Fort Worth, Texas which yielded only 10 results.
• Out of those 10, I was familiar with only 4 of the organizations.
• While I wasn't expecting to be surprised by this search, 2 out of the 10 organizations had their exempt status revoked. It made me wonder what had to have changed within those organizations for this to happen.

Comparing Nonprofits: 

A screenshot of the comparison of
the 3 universities.

Just like the specified search utilized above, GuideStar allows users to compare multiple organizations at once, making it all accessible in one easy document. To experiment, I decided to look at 3 private universities- Trinity University, Rice University and Southwestern University- all located in Texas. This comparison view offers the summaries of general information, financial information, mission statements and the notable people of the organization. If I were to ever consider working at these institutions, it offers a great quick glance for developing a first impression and considering if it seems like the place for me. Expanding from this comparison view, I would want to know more about the benefits and specifics of a particular organization- more than a quick summary can provide.


Download Options:
So far I've had a chance to share some of the many great things about GuideStar with you, but there  is one more! Once you have registered with GuideStar you have not only the ability to look at the vitals of over 1.9 million nonprofits but also take that information and download it to your personal computer for access to it 24/7. It may vary depending on your account information but my membership with GuideStar allows me to download up to 5,000 organizations a month. Once you have selected all of the organizations that you would like to have information on, you may download materials as CSVs which are like Excel spreadsheets but more flexible. You also have the ability to download all of their information or just pieces of it that pertain/interest you. Out of the 10 that I chose to download, a few do have the potential to lead to employment/internship opportunities while others are merely just for personal interest. From these documents, if I choose to pursue any of the organizations listed I now have an ability to speak in depth about their impact as a nonprofit organization and can continue to do research on GuideStar for other organizations in that area.