Hello, Donor-Funder!
Welcome to the Donor-Funder Pathway! Whether you are a donor or part of a funding organization, the Grow platform provides resources for you as a donor-funder to build your capacity for impact.
The Grow Library
built for you
Here you will see the three overall sections of the Grow Library. This is a good jumping-off point for your research and data gathering in order to build capacity.
Here are a few resources we recommend.
| TITLE | SOURCE | hf:doc_categories | hf:doc_tags | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Collective Action Network (CAN) | ECHO Housing | accessibility community-development donor-funder early-learning economy education flourishing healthy-food-access housing maternal-child-health mental-behavioral-health nonprofit online-resource-hubs-2 online-resource-hubs philanthropy-grantmaking poverty quality-of-place religion senior-care strategic-planning substance-abuse tobacco-use-vaping weight-nutrition-health community-topic-hubs data-literacy nonprofit-operations | can collective-action-network community-data dashboard database df-pathway echo echo-housing flourishing np-pathway primary-data regional-data surveys |
 | Simplifying Grant Applications and Reporting for Nonprofits | Exponent Philanthropy | donor-funder | df-pathway |
| The Overhead Myth | Nonprofit Quarterly | donor-funder | df-pathway |
 | The way we think about charity is dead wrong | Dan Pallotta, Ted Talk | donor-funder | df-pathway |
Community Topics
Focused resource
collections
Resources
Assets ranging from
reports to podcasts
Training
Focused resource
collections
Grow Training for
Donor-Funders
Build your capacity by investing in best-in-class training. Learn more about data literacy, impactful investing strategies, and creating transformational change.
Grow Training for
Donor-Funders
Build your capacity by investing in best-in-class training. Learn more about data literacy, impactful investing strategies, and creating transformational change.
Here are a few training opportunities we recommend.
Donor-Funders
&
SAVI
Accurate, accessible data leads to better decision-making. The Regional Data System (RDS) powered by SAVI provides donor-funders with a shared understanding of needs to maximize impact.
What Charity Rating Services Can - and Can't - Tell You
Making informed giving decisions helps strengthen the impact of your generosity. Charity rating services can provide helpful insights into a nonprofit’s finances, transparency, and outcomes. Below, Grow shares some of the most commonly used rating services to help you explore the organizations you care about—and to understand why some nonprofits may not engage with these platforms.
There are 5 characteristics of effective nonprofits:
- Clear mission and purpose
- Strong performance across key functions
- Strong practices, procedures, and policies
- Skilled, engaged people
- Ability to mobilize
Learn more about the rating services by exploring a high-level overview below.
About
Charity Navigator is one of the largest independent evaluators of U.S. nonprofits, assessing over 230,000 organizations using publicly available data like IRS Form 990s and information directly from charities. It offers insights into financial stability, accountability, transparency, and results reporting without charging nonprofits or accepting donations from the organizations it rates.
Rating System
Uses a 1- to 4-star rating based on two broad categories—financial health and accountability & transparency—with additional “beacons” or focus areas (e.g., Impact & Results, Leadership & Adaptability) now part of the Encompass Rating System to evaluate smaller nonprofits and supplement core metrics.
Pros:
- Highly recognized and widely used by donors and nonprofits alike.
- Objective, data-driven methodology with clear star rankings.
- Covers both large and small nonprofits via Encompass system.
Cons:
- Relies heavily on IRS Form 990 data, which may be incomplete or outdated.
- Earlier methodologies faced criticism for focusing on a single year’s filings, possibly causing rating volatility.
- New “beacon” or focus area metrics may not be uniformly applied across all organizations.
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About
GiveWell is a nonprofit evaluator founded in 2007 that applies rigorous, analytic evaluation to pinpoint and promote the most cost-effective and evidence-backed giving opportunities—typically a small number of high-impact organizations—rather than rating as many nonprofits as possible.
Rating System
Does not use a star or numerical rating. Instead, it deeply researches a select set of charities, examining criteria like evidence of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, transparency, and funding need (“room for more funding”), then publishes detailed program reviews and top charity recommendations.
Pros:
Laser-focused on real impact per dollar, especially for global health and poverty alleviation.
Exceptionally transparent: publishes models, assumptions, and internal evaluations.
Helps donors understand diminishing returns and prioritize giving effectively.
Cons:
Covers only a few organizations—not comprehensive.
Resource-intensive model; may miss promising but lesser-known nonprofits.
Primarily focused on interventions in the developing world, less breadth across causes.
About
GuideStar, now part of Candid, is the world’s largest central source of nonprofit data in the U.S., offering comprehensive profiles—including mission, financials (e.g., IRS 990), leadership, and impact—for over 1.8 million organizations. It emphasizes disclosure and transparency rather than ranking.
Rating System
Uses a voluntary “Seals of Transparency” model—Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum—based on how much information a nonprofit chooses to disclose about its finances, goals, results, and metrics. These aren’t comparative scores but indicate levels of transparency.
Pros:
- Free and accessible platform providing rich data for donor research.
- Encourages nonprofits to share mission, strategy, and performance, countering the overhead myth.
- Useful as a baseline profile source for donors and funders.
Cons:
- No performance ranking—only indicates completeness of disclosure.
- Requires nonprofits to volunteer info—some may stop updating or omit key metrics.
- Transparency doesn’t equal effectiveness.
About
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance evaluates charities using a standards-based approach, assessing whether organizations that solicit donations publicly meet BBB’s 20 Standards for Charity Accountability—covering governance, finances, transparent communication, and results reporting. Reports are free and accessible.
Rating System
Not a star system—each charity is evaluated on the 20 accountability standards and assigned: “met,” “not met,” or “unable to verify” for each. Detailed evaluation reports are published, including whether each standard is satisfied.
Pros:
- Rigorous, broad focus on accountability and trustworthiness.
- Independent and free for evaluated charities and donors.
- Covers both national and local charities with in-depth reporting.
Cons:
- Evaluation is voluntary; not all charities participate.
- Does not rate impact or cost-effectiveness.
- Focuses on process rather than outcomes.
