The National Council of Nonprofits is a trusted resource and advocate for America’s charitable nonprofits. Through our powerful network of State Associations and 25,000-plus members – the nation’s largest network of nonprofits – we serve as a central coordinator and mobilizer to help nonprofits achieve greater collective impact in local communities across the country. We identify emerging trends, share proven practices, and promote solutions that benefit charitable nonprofits and the communities they serve.
GuideStar is the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations.
We envision a nonprofit sector strong enough to tackle the great challenges of our time. GuideStar’s Nonprofit Profiles provide you with the information you need to make smart decisions, build connections, and learn from each other to achieve your missions.
BoardSource is the recognized leader in nonprofit board leadership and supports, trains, and educates nonprofit leaders from across the country and throughout the world. With almost three decades of experience, BoardSource provides leaders with an extensive range of tools, resources, and research data to increase board effectiveness and strengthen organizational impact. It also serves as the national voice for inspired and effective board leadership.
Why Digital Impact? Managing and governing digital data in ways that advance your mission and respect the rights of the people you serve is a core capacity of foundations and nonprofits. While digital data hold tremendous promise for how we do our work in the social sector, they also raise new challenges. Digital data should be viewed as both an asset and a liability.
Nonprofits and foundations are learning to manage digital data in line with their missions and capacities.
This site is part of a community of practitioners, building and sharing tools to use digital data well.
FCC – Small Biz Cyberplanner 2.0
The Federal Communications Commission’s Small Biz Cyber Planner 2.0 is an online resource to help small businesses create customized cybersecurity plans. Use this tool to create and save a custom cyber security plan for your company, choosing from a menu of expert advice to address your specific business needs and concerns. The FCC also released an updated Cybersecurity Tip Sheet.
Form 1023-EZ Instructions – You may be able to use this simplified registration form if you are able to answer “No” to all of the 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet.
StayExempt – an IRS site created especially for 501(c)(3) organizations.
The Nonprofit Risk Management Center inspires effective risk management and Risk Champions across the nonprofit sector. We enable nonprofit leaders to identify and manage risks that threaten their missions and operations, while empowering them to leverage opportunities and take bold, mission-advancing risks.
Independent Sector is the only national membership organization that brings together a diverse community of changemakers, nonprofits, foundations, and corporations working to strengthen civil society and ensure all people in the United States thrive. As the vital meeting ground, we advance our mission by fostering a sense of belonging, catalyzing action, and providing policy leadership across the full breadth of the charitable sector.
Looking for data on the charitable sector? This is the place to find it. Maybe you need deep thinking on a current issue or best practices for management. You’ll find those in their online resources.
CIS is a non-profit entity that harnesses the power of a global IT community to safeguard private and public organizations against cyber threats. Our CIS Controls and CIS Benchmarks are the global standard and recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data against the most pervasive attacks. These proven guidelines are continuously refined and verified by a volunteer, global community of experienced IT professionals. CIS is home to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®), the go-to resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial government entities.
The American Evaluation Association is a professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness.
A nonprofit lender and consultant with nearly 40 years of national and hyperlocal experience, NFF helps mission-driven organizations adapt, thrive, and drive positive change. Nonprofit Finance Fund® (NFF®) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). NFF is an equal opportunity provider.
NTEN is a community of nonprofit professionals using technology to make the world a better place. Focused on technology in nonprofits, we support organizations by convening the nonprofit community, offering professional credentials and training, and facilitating community skill and resource sharing. We envision a world where nonprofits fulfill their missions through the skillful and racially equitable use of technology. They offer Tech Accelerate, a free benchmarking assessment of your organization’s current tech use and policies across four major categories: leadership, organization, infrastructure, and fundraising and communications.
TechSoup is a nonprofit international network of non-governmental organizations that provides technical support and technological tools to other nonprofits. TechSoup equips changemakers with transformative technology solutions and skills they need to improve lives globally and locally, most famously by offering discounts on the software and hardware tools that nonprofits need.
We are a collegial, peer-driven community of foundation and nonprofit communications professionals who share ideas, evidence, and lessons about how smart communications improve lives. Through meetings and events, publications, social outreach, and an online community, we elevate the role of communications across the social sector. We help our members build relationships, skills, and confidence to navigate a shifting information landscape and to be a voice for change that benefits both individuals and society.
The Urban Institute strengthens the quality and availability of information about nonprofits and the services they provide. Our 501(c)(3) e-filing, community sharing platform, and performance management tools have empowered nonprofits with more effective leadership and efficient service. By elevating standards and measures of organizational success, we strengthen nonprofits’ ability to solve pressing social challenges.
Innovation Network is based in Washington, DC and works around the country with funders and nonprofits. With deep experience in the evaluation, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors, our staff is dedicated to sharing insights and tools that help our clients improve their work. Innovation Network is pleased to have the Center for Evaluation Innovation as our strategic partner. The Center was created in 2009 to push evaluation practice in new directions and into new arenas.
Tech Impact is a nonprofit whose mission is to empower communities and nonprofits to use technology to better serve our world. (Merged with Idealware.)
We are the place nonprofits can call to make sense of anything from large-scale technology projects, to technology maintenance and support. We have partnered with hundreds of nonprofit organizations around the world since 2003, to help each one realize the potential of technology to achieve their mission and improve outcomes.
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) is the global champion of impact investing, dedicated to increasing its scale and effectiveness around the world. They have developed several useful impact tools: Tools & Resources for Impact Measurement & Management (IMM): IRIS+ (the generally accepted impact metrics) and an Impact Toolkit.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a print and online magazine that covers the nonprofit world of philanthropy. Based in Washington, DC, it is aimed at charity leaders, foundation executives, fund raisers, and other people involved in philanthropy. The Chronicle is your leading source of news, information, and jobs specifically designed for nonprofit professionals. Among other online Resources, they offer a popular daily eNewsletter for free.
Blue Avocado speaks for and to the people in community-based nonprofits.
Blue Avocado is an online magazine fueled by a monthly newsletter designed to provide practical, tactical tips and tools to nonprofit leaders. A small but mighty team of committed social sector leaders produces the publication, enlisting content from a wide range of practitioners, funders, and experts. Subscriptions are free. Blue Avocado publishes twelve times per year.
Engage for Good was founded in 2002 with the goal of providing business and nonprofit professionals working at the intersection of cause and commerce with the practical information and connections they need to succeed. We focus on engaging consumers and/or employees around social issues and offer an annual conference, online webinars, an enewsletter, the CauseTalk Radio podcast, and hundreds of resources on their website. They also run the Peer-to-Peer Forum, formerly the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council, which supports professionals who manage peer-to-peer fundraising events.
The Donor Relations Guru Group is the preeminent authority in improving every aspect of the donor experience—from developing sound strategy and vision to creating meaningful donor engagement—all designed to help your organization raise more money. The website includes extensive resources and samples of fundraising collateral and strategies.
The “American Prospect Research Association” became the “Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement.” But we are more than the sum of those letters. Our members are the professionals who drive their institutions’ philanthropic missions through work in prospect development and prospect research, data analytics and data management, annual giving, advancement, special gifts and more. They have an extensive podcast and online resources, as well as member-only tools for prospecting professionals.
Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. SSIR is written by and for social change leaders from around the world and from all sectors of society—nonprofits, foundations, business, government, and engaged citizens. SSIR’s mission is to advance, educate, and inspire the field of social innovation by seeking out, cultivating, and disseminating the best in research- and practice-based knowledge. With print and online articles, webinars, conferences, podcasts, and more, SSIR bridges research, theory, and practice on a wide range of topics, including human rights, impact investing, and nonprofit business models. SSIR is published by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University.