Does the Charity World Really Benefit From Reviews by Volunteers, Clients, and Others?

Guidestar, the online repository of financial information on charities, has added a feature highlighting guidebook-style reviews that volunteers and charity clients post on Great Nonprofits. But are the reviews helping or harming donors and nonprofit groups?

Writing on Nonprofit Leadership 601, Heather Carpenter says she’s not thrilled with applying this style of user-created reviews to the nonprofit world.

The comments on Great Nonprofits aren’t reflective of all nonprofit groups, she writes. Only a very small number of charities have been reviewed, and many groups have never even heard of the site (To learn more about Great Nonprofits, see this article from The Chronicle’s archive.).

What’s more, readers might get the wrong impression about a charity from one or two bad reviews. “What if someone had a bad experience at a nonprofit and wrote a mean comment, is that representative of all the people who experienced that nonprofit?” she writes. “Most likely not.”

Ms. Carpenter says that some nonprofit groups are so concerned about their image that they are asking employees to sign on and write positive comments.

“My advice to nonprofits, funders, and the general public is to invest in researchers to do evaluations that are representative of organizations and the sector,” she says.

What do you think of Great Nonprofits?

— Caroline Preston