The NCCS Community Platform:

Tools for Analysis, Collaboration & Leadership

Tom Pollak, Director, National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute [email protected]

– 202-261-5536 April 2011

Moving the Needle on Key Community Indicators

• • • Direct effort to increase level of giving & (sustained) volunteering for organizations Improve efficiency & effectiveness of sector Strengthen collaboration, coordination & alignment of work among nonprofits, government & communities • Spillover: Increase level of sustained engagement, volunteering & giving for organizations

Who’s working on this issue in your community & how can you get involved? Click here to go to LINCC.

The Platform provides Organization Search screens for both basic and more advanced users.

This is the search screen for more advanced users.

The Basic search shows only organization name, location and broad service area.

The standard search results page for registered users shows a range of information, much of it from IRS forms and registration information.

The Basic Search Results pages shows much less. (Users can click on an organization name for a full Organization Profile.)

A variety of tools to create a vibrant & open public platform for strengthening nonprofit organizations & community capacity.

Map nonprofit organizations & schools (preloaded) or add other resources & needs directly or through links to 2-1-1 or other community data systems.

The map can be filtered to show particular types of organizations using the general categories on the left.

Advanced users can choose from more the detailed 600-category NTEE system.

New resources – public or private, nonprofit or for-profit, programs, offices, police stations, etc. – can be added to the map.

This is the same location, but limiting the display to “places,” including public schools, community centers, libraries & more.

Information is available in lists or maps; a variety of tools are available for updating & expanding organization & program information.

We start with IRS Form 990 data, but users can add new programs & supplement 990 info.

The Community Administrator

Responsible for monitoring and approving changes to local information. Different people can be responsible for different types of information.

Candidates include: • • • 2-1-1 provider Local librarians Stakeholder staff from state association, community foundation, or university The Community Needs Assessment helps to identify who is the best administrator in your area.

From the Search Results page, a user can click on an organization name to see the Organization Profile.

Organization Profiles can be updated by Community Administrators, approved researchers, and by the organization itself.

This screen lets a user identify herself as connected to the organization. The Community Administrator is alerted to the request and must approve it before changes are finalized.

PDF images of IRS Form 990s filed since around 2002 are available at a click of the mouse.

Sample IRS Form 990 image.

NCCS typically captures the chief staff officer or volunteer leader for unstaffed organizations from its IRS Form 990 data. Additional information can be added by the organizations themselves or approved users.

We start with IRS Form 990 data, but users can add new programs & supplement 990 info.

Basic program information for all nonprofit organizations is loaded directly from their IRS Form 990s.

But that’s just the beginning…

Add program information & categorize programs for referral system & service delivery mapping.

Supports real-time linkages to 2-1-1 providers so organizations only have to update their information in one place.

Map a Service Area

Registered users can map the program and service locations with a few mouse clicks!

Choose from a comprehensive list of Population Served codes to ensure that users can find the services they need. We also use the 600 category Nonprofit Program Classification system and National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) systems for classification.

The AIRS Information & Referral Taxonomy could be incorporated.

Align Nonprofit Programs with Public School Needs

A teacher, counselor or parent can search for, say, all tutoring or afterschool programs within a given distance from a school.

Users can click on a map point to get the name, location and details on the program.

Track Program Outcomes

Select program outcome indicators to track on a daily, weekly, quarterly or annual basis. Analyze trends & performance for individual orgs, communities, fields/industries, peer groups, or your member organizations.

Indicators can be marked as private, public or for sharing among a group of organizations.

Report on your program results daily, weekly, monthly, annually or in whatever period works for your organization or collaborative.

If you don’t find indicators that are relevant or appropriate on our lists, you can add your own custom indicators.

Financial Analysis: Features

• • Popup help Video and written guides to help boards and managers understand basics of financial analysis • • Other growth rates - revenues, net assets – Efficiency ratios – Balance sheet ratios Revenues, expenses, balance sheet

Financial trends for both individual organizations and peer groups

Users can select from a range of standard ratios

Version 2 will also show percentages: Contributions Program service revenue Membership dues Other 52% 30% 10% 8%

Project Notes & Assignments

Project teams can keep private notes and organization lists and more.

Community Indicators

Users can easily drill down from a county, city or MSA to the zip code level and get either a statistical profile or a list of organizations.

Coming soon!

Integration with new Census & ACS data & WEAVE data visualization tool.

The Statistics tab shows socio-economic data for the zipcode combined with statistics on nonprofit resources (expenses, assets & more) and charitable giving in the community by households that itemize on their tax returns.

The Needs tab is intended to provide a system for a neighborhood association, nonprofit coalition, university community research or outreach project, or just a group of citizens to create a comprehensive map of community needs ranging from public spaces to individual needs for transportation, companionship, babysitting & more. Individual needs & addresses may be kept confidential so only authorized users, such as someone who volunteers to meet a need, has access.

Shared Resources Infrastructure

• Tools for helping organizations develop partnerships or share resources with other nonprofits, find consultants, and more: – Share HR, accounting, tech. or other “back office” staff or consultants. Share development/fundraising help. (Create a full-time job out of multiple part-time jobs) – Share facilities or equipment – Find lower cost options for insurance or supplies through bulk purchases (state nonprofit association) • Possible partners: State CPA Society, VolunteerMatch, BoardNet, Craigslist, idealist.org

Sample Shared Resources Screen

Includes distance from your location to resources and the ability to search by distance.

KnowledgeBase Resources

• “Community Best Practices”: Link to successful or model community projects – Create your checklist of best practices that are viable in your community, then check off those that are in place, those in progress, and those worth exploring for the future • “How to” section linking to resources on community-building • Regular webinars: new models, peer learning

Create Project Teams

Project teams to collect information & tackle community problems are at the heart of the system.

Project teams can share tasks, free-text knowledgebase items, and more…