By Maureen Imanuel
maureen.imanuel@mbcopa.com
Everyone loves to read reviews of movies, books and restaurants. But now you can write reviews of nonprofit organizations. GuideStar, a national organization providing free information about nonprofits, makes it easy for the public to write reviews. Just go to GuideStar's website and click on the "Review A Charity" tab. It will guide you through the process including giving you tips on what to write (your personal experience with the nonprofit using concrete examples) and what not to write (anything that is false, misleading or offensive). Reviews can be written by anyone with firsthand experience with a nonprofit organization who is not a paid employee of the organization. Reviews are posted in the reviewed organizations' reports on GuideStar and GreatNonprofits.
There are many ways that nonprofits can encourage their supporters to write reviews. For example:
- Send an email to clients, volunteers, donors, board members and other partners with a link to your profile page
- Put a link on your website
- Include a link in your email newsletter
- Put a link in the signature line of your email
- Put a link on your Facebook page and status updates
- Tweet a link to your Twitter followers
