Guidestar

The goal of Guidestar (www.guidestar.org), the first central source of information about nonprofit groups in the United States, is to improve the dissemination and availability of information about charities and philanthropies. Through the Guidestar database, users can access information about nearly two million organizations and nearly five million Form 990 images—all at no charge. Over eight million people visit the site every year. Along with Atlantic Philanthropies and the David and Lucile Packard, Ford, William & Flora Hewlett, W.K. Kellogg, Surdna, Skoll, Omidyar and Charles Stewart Mott foundations, the Corporation helped to sustain Guidestar through the first years of its operation. In defining their mission, Guidestar notes that they are dedicated to making as much information available about the nonprofit sector as they can because “The best possible decisions are made when donors, funders, researchers, educators, professional service providers, governing agencies, and the media use the quality information that we provide. Those decisions affect our world today and will continue to affect it for generations to come.”