SAN FRANCISCO — ImpactMatters, an organization that helps donors identify high-impact nonprofits, has unveiled a new nonprofit ratings service.
The team says its five-star rating system, which it has already used to evaluate 1,078 nonprofits, will help donors understand how to achieve the most impact per dollar at scale by identifying the highest performing nonprofits across a range of sectors.
ImpactMatters first launched in 2015 with the aim of encouraging the production and use of what it called “appropriate evidence.” The startup relied on a more involved process using impact audits, or consults, with nonprofits to help them measure their impact and make improvements based on evidence. But the team soon realized that nonprofits did not see the return on investment in meeting its criteria, which included cost-effectiveness, quality of evidence and monitoring systems, and demonstration of learning and iteration.