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Misguided GuideStar

Must say I tend to agree with Adrian Sargeant on the misguided approach to GuideStar UK, in this December article from Professional Fundraising just published online:

Double trouble is on horizon for the sector, Adrian Sargeant on Professional Fundraising.

In it he says “….. I wonder who will use the site. Charities will, as they will want to
identify potential competitors or collaborators, and to look at their
performance. Academics will use the site for research. I suspect some
highervalue donors looking for an organisation in a particular cause
category might use it. But the idea that charity donors will flock to
the site and achieve £6m worth of value is nonsense.”

I’ll declare neutrality on his other point, whether “The sector has scored a huge own goal….. on the [fundraising] self-regulation scheme.” Probably, but then I don’t trust any professional fundraisers myself anyway!

4 Responses to "Misguided GuideStar"

Trevor Maynard says:

March 21, 2006 at 8:33 pm

The situation used to be that if you wanted a charity’s Trustee Report and Accounts you would have to go through snail mail – now the whole thing and an analysis of financials (which has been worked out with SORP 2005 in mind) is available at the click of a button instead. Whichever way you view this, that must increase transparency and promote accountability. GuideStar UK is a free on-line resource, excellent for raising a charity’s profile and not tied to the sector pre-occupation with fundraising. However, it is only part of the on-line picture, part of the charity information landscape (see charityinformation.net for details), and a part which raises which increases an organisation’s web presence index, and thereby, eventually, will increase help to increase profile which in turn may increase funds. Therefore, add GuideStar UK, Charity Facts, Charity Commission, VolResources and the rest altogether and surely raising £6m will be a pretty modest target.
volresource says:

March 21, 2006 at 8:59 pm

Just wish VolResource had a tiny part of the millions spent on GuideStar – we coudl do a lot with that!
Trevor Maynard says:

April 3, 2006 at 10:17 am

That is both the advantage and disadvantage of being a small organisation in a competitive market – if you can get the money, you can do alot because charities and non profit resources are flexible and targeted – but being small (and I mean in terms of funding) can mean getting even the core resources funded can be difficult. Yes, GuideStar UK was funded with £2.9m from the treasury and some money from private philanthropy – but not in future, that will depend on its product – the database. Personally, I think we need to broaden the view and find ways of informing charities of the resources available on the whole of the charity information landscape
This will help charities to become aware of the charity information available – whether that be VolResource, or GuideStar UK – charities can use both.
Nick Temple says:

April 11, 2006 at 1:36 pm

For donors, I’d point to a student here at the School for Social Entrepreneurs called Dave Pitchford, who’s setting up something called Intelligent Giving, aimed fairly and squarely at donors….looks set to stir a few things up….

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