GuideStar aims to support diverse decisions in the social sector through its products. Its goals are to provide stakeholders with information to make good decisions that drive nonprofit effectiveness and generate earned revenue. GuideStar's role includes its free website GuideStar.org, collecting and distributing data through products like its Exchange, Premium Search, and APIs. It aims to redesign GuideStar.org and measure performance by user segments. Key next steps are to consider how Donor Edge supports different decisions, measure decision quality, ensure it complements other platforms, and adapt it for other social sector groups.

1. GuideStar Product Strategy
Supporting Diverse Decisions in the Social Sector
Evan Paul
VP of Products
May 28, 2014
GuideStar DonorEdge Learning Community

2. Goals
The Role of GuideStar
Products
Next Steps
OUTLINE

3. Provide the stakeholders of social
change with the information they need to
make good decisions that help drive
nonprofit effectiveness.
Generate earned revenue for
GuideStar.
Outcomes
GOALS
3

4. “…stakeholders…”
4
GOALS

5. Nonprofit Organizations
Institutional Funders
Professional Services
Technology Providers
Researchers
Individual
Donors/Volunteers
“…stakeholders…”
Nonprofit Organizations, Healthcare Nonprofits,
Religious Organizations
Private Foundation, Community Foundation,
Corporate Foundation / Giving, Government &
Public Admin
Consulting, Advertising and Marketing, Financial
Services, Legal / Accounting, Fundraising / Grant
Writing
Philanthropy Software, Cause Related Marketing
Platforms
Schools & Universities, Media
5
GOALS

6. “Generate earned revenue…”
GOALS
Grants
Earned
Revenue
6

7. Overview
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
7
• GuideStar.org
• Data Collection
– GuideStar Exchange
• Data Distribution
– Subscription Products
– DonorEdge & Hosted Solutions
– APIs
– Data

8. GuideStar.org
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
8

9. GuideStar.org: Traffic
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
9
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

10. GuideStar Exchange
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
10
Impact and
effectiveness
information
Financial information
Basic information

11. GuideStar Exchange: Partners in creating the Gold level
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
11

12. GuideStar Exchange: Benefits partners
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
12

13. GuideStar Exchange
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
13
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
1-Jul 1-Aug 1-Sep 1-Oct 1-Nov 1-Dec 1-Jan 1-Feb 1-Mar 1-Apr 1-May 1-Jun
GX Participants by Participation Level 2013-2014
Bronze
Silver
Gold

14. Subscription Products
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
14
• Premium & Pro Search
• Charity Check
• Financial SCAN

15. • Premium & Pro Search is
used by a variety of different
stakeholders for:
– Comparison and funder
identification by nonprofits
– Due diligence by foundations
and donors
– Comparison of clients to
peers, as well as prospecting,
by Professional Services.
15
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
Subscription Products: Premium & Pro Search

16. 16
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
Subscription Products: Charity Check
• Used for pre-grant due diligence by foundations
• Only 100% IRS compliant product of its kind
• Included in Donor Edge

17. 17
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
Subscription Products: Charity Check
• Used to evaluate a nonprofit’s financial health
by nonprofits themselves, foundations,
accountants, and others.

18. Donor Edge & Hosted Solutions
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
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• You will be talking about Donor Edge
throughout the next two days
• What is Hosted Solutions?

19. APIs
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
19
• Exchange API
• Search API
• Advanced Search API
• Charity Check API
• Detail API
• See data.guidestar.org for more details

20. 20
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
APIs

21. 21
THE ROLE OF GUIDESTAR PRODUCTS
Data

22. • Redesign GuideStar.org and measure
performance by segment
NEXT STEPS
Build, Measure, Learn
22

23. 23
NEXT STEPS
Build: New homepage design

24. 24
NEXT STEPS
Build: New registration by segment

25. 25
NEXT STEPS
Build: New dashboard page by segment and user profile

26. 26
NEXT STEPS
Build: New, more intuitive, report pages

27. 27
NEXT STEPS
Measure & Learn: Mixpanel analytics on user behavior

28. • What decisions does the platform currently support?
What additional decisions could it be designed to
support?
• How do we measure the quality of those decisions
supported through the platform?
• How can Donor Edge be complimentary to, not
competitive with, other donor management platforms?
• How can the functionality be repurposed for other user
groups in the social sector (e.g. government, financial
services, smaller foundations, consulting, etc.) to
broaden the base of support and adoption?
NEXT STEPS
Key questions to consider for Donor Edge
28