As seasoned planners know, hooking up with a charity not only encourages more people to attend your event - it also opens doors to get essentials donated by vendors willing to help out for a worthy purpose. But how do you find a cause that ties in with your vision? And how can you be sure that the money earned will be well spent by the charity?Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org) offers a free (registration required) database of more than 5,000 of the largest charities in the U.S. Users can search for organizations by name or topic and get the charity's mission statement and history as well as a snapshot of the organization's financial health, based on information from its most recent tax returns. The site rates charities on a five-star system and provides a side-by-side comparison of related charities, so it's easy to distinguish between similar organizations.
GuideStar (www.guidestar.org) offers similar information but casts a wider net to include all local and national nonprofits - more than 1.5 million total. This is a helpful resource if you're looking to team up with a small charity instead of one of the large ones that receive frequent help. Free registration gives you access to basic information; paid subscribers get additional searching tools and financial information.
GuideStar (www.guidestar.org) offers similar information but casts a wider net to include all local and national nonprofits - more than 1.5 million total. This is a helpful resource if you're looking to team up with a small charity instead of one of the large ones that receive frequent help. Free registration gives you access to basic information; paid subscribers get additional searching tools and financial information.
