GuideStar partners with Mission Measurement to improve charity profiles

• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30424
• Published date: 01 March 2018

6

MARCH 2018NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

(See RISK on page 7)

Industry News

GuideStar partners with Mission Measurement

to improve charity proles

Nonprofit resources website GuideStar has

launched a new partnership with Mission Measure-

ment that will incorporate the latter’s Impact Genome

Project data into GuideStar Nonprot Proles. Under

the new system, an IGP badge will automatically ap-

pear on the proles of nonprots that have completed

a free IGP survey. At press time, over 400 charities had

gone through the process and gotten an IGP badge.

According to GuideStar CEO Jacob Harold, the

IGP data builds on the organization’s Platinum ser-

vice launched in 2016, which allowed nonprots to

upload a wide variety of baseline metrics they use to

track their progress against their missions.Nonprot

Business Advisor

“Through Platinum, nonprots share the metrics

they use to track their progress against their mis-

sions,” Harold explained in a statement announcing

the new partnership with Mission Measurement.

“So far, organizations have shared more than 12,000

metrics. Most of these metrics measure the work the

nonprots did, that is, ‘outputs.’ These are important

baseline measurements. But we are always looking

for new ways to understand the work that nonprots

do. The Impact Genome Project’s analysis offers a

nuanced view into a nonprot’s work.”

According to Jason Saul, founder of Mission

Measurement, the two groups are “pioneering new

ways to standardize data” so that nonprot report-

ing is simplied and the playing eld is leveled for

all charities.

“Over time, the IGP will produce benchmark

data that enables donors and charities to compare

programs with similar goals,” Saul said. “Donors will

be able to judge charities on their actual impacts on

society, rather than on less meaningful criteria such

as overhead costs.”

The incorporation of IGP data is expected to

benet donors and charities alike, the groups said,

including:

• More donations. According to GuideStar, do-

nors will give more if they know the return their

philanthropic investments will get, and have greater

condence in a charity’s ability to produce the out-

comes they value.

• Greater social impact. Standardized reporting

on outcomes and impact will make it possible to

analyze what works and help charities improve the

IRS revises Form 1023-EZ with eye toward small charities

The IRS has revised Form 1023-EZ, Streamlined

Application for Recognition of Exemption Under

Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, in

an effort to help small charities apply for 501(c)(3)

tax-exempt status.

In a web posting, the agency provided the fol-

lowing summary of the changes to the form and

its instructions:

• A section was added to Part III that asks for

a brief description of the organization’s mission or

most signicant activities. According to the agency,

this aims to provide a better understanding of the

most signicant activities an organization engages

in to further its exempt purposes.

• Questions about annual gross receipts, total

assets and public charity classication were added

to Form 1023-EZ. These questions are also on the

Form 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet in the Instruc-

tions for Form 1023-EZ that organizations must

certify they have completed.

• Question 29 on the Form 1023-EZ Eligibility

Worksheet now requires that an automatically re-

voked organization applying for reinstatement must

seek the same foundation classication they had at

the time of automatic revocation to be eligible to use

Form 1023-EZ. Organizations that are not seeking

the same foundation classication must le a full

Form 1023, the agency said.

Taken together, the IRS said, these revisions will

make it easier for organizations to select the correct

form when applying for tax-exempt status, and will

help the agency make the correct determinations on

tax-exempt status as well.

For more information: and to access the form in

full, visit https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-

form-1023ez. ■

(See PARTNERSHIP on page 8)