User:Impact1460/sandbox

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ImpactMatters
Formation2015; 9 years ago (2015)[1]
FounderDean Karlan, Elijah Goldberg
TypeNonprofit organization
Legal status501(c)(3) organization
PurposeCharity assessment
Location
Paul Brest, Dean Karlan, Michael M. Weinstein, Kevin Starr, Tamara Fox[2]
Websiteimpactmatters.org

ImpactMatters is an American charity assessment organization that rates charitable organizations based on their impact. ImpactMatters issues Impact Ratings on a five-star scale based on a charity’s cost-effectiveness rather than historically used metrics like overhead ratios.[3][4] ImpactMatters operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[5]

History

Economist Dean Karlan and Elijah Goldberg, Karlan’s former student at Yale University, founded ImpactMatters in 2015 to assess charities based on how much good they achieve per dollar.[3] Most existing charity assessment organizations issued ratings based on financial ratios like the percentage of a charity’s expenses that go toward overhead costs.[4] Karlan and Goldberg instead focused on cost-effectiveness analysis.[3]

ImpactMatters was initially incubated at Innovations for Poverty Action, a research organization founded by Karlan in 2002 to conduct randomized controlled trials of poverty alleviation programs.[1] Though randomized trials are often considered the 'gold standard' in impact evaluation, Karlan and board member Paul Brest intended for ImpactMatters to encourage the production of more flexible and appropriate types of evidence among nonprofit organizations.

Michael M. Weinstein, formerly of Robin Hood Foundation, began serving as ImpactMatters’ president in 2017.[6] During this period, ImpactMatters conducted "impact audits" of nonprofit organizations. Modeled after financial audits, each impact audit included an estimate of the nonprofit’s cost-effectiveness as well as assessments of the nonprofit's evidence of impact, monitoring systems, and learning and iteration.[1]

In 2019, ImpactMatters switched from impact audits and began producing "Impact Ratings."[3] Instead of one-on-one analysis with nonprofits, it switched to gathering publicly available data on nonprofits and developing models to estimate their cost-effectiveness.[7][4] Nonprofits that are found to be highly cost-effective are rated 5 stars.[3]

In November 2019, ImpactMatters released Impact Ratings of 1,000 charities and published giving guides by U.S. city and cause area.[3][8] Since 2018, ImpactMatters’ charity assessments can also be viewed on Charity Navigator.[9]

Impact Rating Standard

ImpactMatters rates nonprofits according to its Impact Rating Standard, which defines impact as a nonprofit’s observed success minus counterfactual success, relative to cost.[10][4] Impact Ratings are then assigned based on a nonprofit’s level of cost-effectiveness compared to outcome- and geography-specific benchmarks.[10][11] The methodology does not apply to membership, religious, advocacy or research charities.[11]

The Impact Rating Standard is similar to GiveWell’s methodology for assessing charities, but whereas GiveWell recommends developing-country nonprofits that achieve the most good per dollar, ImpactMatters issues ratings for a wider set of nonprofits.[7] ImpactMatters’ methodology has raised concern that it may not sufficiently accommodate direct service organizations that also spend on systems change efforts.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Cheney, Catherine (2016-05-16). "Can charity raters achieve both rigor and scale?". Devex. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  2. ^ "ImpactMatters Board of Directors". ImpactMatters. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Sullivan, Paul (2019-11-22). "New Rating System for Charities Aims to Measure Impact of Gifts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  4. ^ a b c d Cheney, Catherine (2019-11-27). "This organization aims to change how impact is measured — and funded". Devex. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  5. ^ "ImpactMatters". GuideStar. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  6. ^ Strickland, Anais (2017-03-17). "New Top Executives Join Impact Matters and Higher Learning Advocates". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  7. ^ a b c Matthews, Dylan (2019-12-17). "These are the charities where your money will do the most good". Vox. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  8. ^ Toussaint, Kristin (2019-12-02). "This nonprofit rating service measures effectiveness so you can make the most of Giving Tuesday". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  9. ^ Staff writers (2018-11-27). "Expectations Are High For #GivingTuesday". The NonProfit Times. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  10. ^ a b "Impact Rating Standard". ImpactMatters. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  11. ^ a b Theis, Michael (2019-11-22). "New Ratings Site Measures Charity Impact, Goes Beyond Financial Data". Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved 2020-05-29.

External links

Category:Charity review websites Category:Charities based in New York (state) Category:Organizations established in 2015 Category:2015 establishments in Connecticut Category:Organizations based in the United States Category:Yale University


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ImpactMatters
Formation2015; 9 years ago (2015)[1]
FounderDean Karlan, Elijah Goldberg
TypeNonprofit organization
Legal status501(c)(3) organization
PurposeCharity assessment
Location
Paul Brest, Dean Karlan, Michael M. Weinstein, Kevin Starr, Tamara Fox[2]
Websiteimpactmatters.org

ImpactMatters is an American charity assessment organization that rates charitable organizations based on their impact. ImpactMatters issues Impact Ratings on a five-star scale based on a charity’s cost-effectiveness rather than historically used metrics like overhead ratios.[3] ImpactMatters operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[4]

History

Economist Dean Karlan and Elijah Goldberg, Karlan’s former student at Yale University, founded ImpactMatters in 2015 to assess charities based on how much good they achieve per dollar.[3] Most existing charity assessment organizations issued ratings based on financial ratios like the percentage of a charity’s expenses that go toward overhead costs.[1] Karlan and Goldberg instead focused on cost-effectiveness analysis.[3]

ImpactMatters was initially incubated at Innovations for Poverty Action, a research organization founded by Karlan in 2002 to conduct randomized controlled trials of poverty alleviation programs.[1] Though randomized trials are often considered the 'gold standard' in impact evaluation, Karlan and board member Paul Brest intended for ImpactMatters to encourage the production of more flexible and appropriate types of evidence among nonprofit organizations.

Michael M. Weinstein, formerly of Robin Hood Foundation, began serving as ImpactMatters’ president in 2017.[5] During this period, ImpactMatters conducted "impact audits" of nonprofit organizations. Modeled after financial audits, each impact audit included an estimate of the nonprofit’s cost-effectiveness as well as assessments of the nonprofit's evidence of impact, monitoring systems, and learning and iteration.[1]

In 2019, ImpactMatters switched from impact audits and began producing "Impact Ratings."[3] Instead of one-on-one analysis with nonprofits, it switched to gathering publicly available data on nonprofits and developing models to estimate their cost-effectiveness.[6][3] Nonprofits that are found to be highly cost-effective are rated 5 stars.[3]

In November 2019, ImpactMatters released Impact Ratings of 1,000 charities and published giving guides by U.S. city and cause areas.[3][7] Since 2018, ImpactMatters’ charity assessments can also be viewed on Charity Navigator.[8]

Impact Rating Standard

ImpactMatters rates nonprofits according to its Impact Rating Standard, which defines impact as a nonprofit’s observed success minus counterfactual success, relative to cost.[9] Impact Ratings are then assigned based on a nonprofit’s level of cost-effectiveness compared to outcome- and geography-specific benchmarks.[9][3] The methodology does not apply to membership, religious, advocacy or research charities.[9]

The Impact Rating Standard is similar to GiveWell’s methodology for assessing charities, but whereas GiveWell recommends developing-country nonprofits that achieve the most good per dollar, ImpactMatters issues ratings for a wider set of nonprofits.[6] ImpactMatters’ methodology has raised concern that it may not sufficiently accommodate direct service organizations that also spend on systems change efforts.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cheney, Catherine (2016-05-16). "Can charity raters achieve both rigor and scale?". Devex. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  2. ^ "ImpactMatters Board of Directors". ImpactMatters. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sullivan, Paul (2019-11-22). "New Rating System for Charities Aims to Measure Impact of Gifts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  4. ^ "ImpactMatters". GuideStar. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  5. ^ Strickland, Anais (2017-03-17). "New Top Executives Join Impact Matters and Higher Learning Advocates". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  6. ^ a b c Matthews, Dylan (2019-12-17). "These are the charities where your money will do the most good". Vox. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  7. ^ Toussaint, Kristin (2019-12-02). "This nonprofit rating service measures effectiveness so you can make the most of Giving Tuesday". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  8. ^ Staff writers (2018-11-27). "Expectations Are High For #GivingTuesday". The NonProfit Times. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  9. ^ a b c "Impact Rating Standard". ImpactMatters. Retrieved 2020-05-29.

External links

Category:Charity review websites Category:Charities based in New York (state) Category:Organizations established in 2015 Category:2015 establishments in Connecticut Category:Organizations based in the United States Category:Yale University

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