All these sites furnish prospective donors information about the charities they are considering. GuideStar is an impressive site with information on more than 600,000 U.S. charities, drawn from IRS records. More than 2,500 groups have done so to date. Groups without a Web site can also create a page of information free at GuideStar. Idealist , run by Action Without Borders, also invites nonprofits to list themselves with program and contact information, though it does not start with GuideStar's huge database.
Groups list themselves free in a directory, along with their volunteer needs.
Visitors can enter their zip codes, then look at volunteer opportunities in their areas by type of organization. Recruiting donors is not the principal purpose of any of these sites, but they all hope they can help this way. Their dream is that donors will more actively seek out charities, using the extensive information and links on the GuideStar site, rather than give mainly in response to costly direct mail or phone appeals. In any case, as more and more potential donors are using the Web and may check out your organization online, it's worthwhile to make sure you're listed effectively, and that you update the often outdated and inaccurate picture provided by IRS 990 records and other public information. With Mal Warwick and Michael Stein, he is author of the first book on online fundraising, Fundraising on the Internet .