2010 Year-End Report

This article is a reprint of the President & CEO's Final Report for 2010 which is originally posted on our site.

As we are just days away from the New Year, we would like to share with you some of our accomplishments, over the past year, which focuses on our four Goals and Strategies. Here are the highlights:

1) Expand and Improve our Products –

• For the first time in our history, we completed a revamp of our rating system to include a new dimension that goes beyond financial health – accountability/transparency.


• Thanks to a grant from the Hewlett Foundation, we began to pilot test CN 2.0 with seven graduate schools and over 60 students. In addition to finance and accountability/transparency, this new tool also includes a measure of results of the charities work.


• We developed a Donor Advisory message for cases where we have learned of charities that are under investigation or have legal issues underway that we think donors should be aware of in addition to the charity’s rating.

2) Broaden Donor Utilization –

• The chart below shows the dramatic increase by almost one million visits (a 25% jump from 2009) to our web site in the past twelve months.

• We also have seen a significant rise in the number of Registered Users who (at no charge) take advantage of additional features and also an increase in newsletter subscribers.

3) Increase and Diversify our Funding

• The number of individual donors increased 206% over 2009 during the worst economy since the great depression.


• Foundation support increased by over 1,200% from $10,000 in 2009 to $125,000 in 2010.

4) Become a 4-Star Charity

• The recent Dugan family gift has provided us with over a year of working capital which meets our highest standard on this measure of financial performance.


• We have conducted a strategic planning/theory of change retreat thanks to a grant from the Trustees Philanthropy Fund of the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund. This process is helping us to better focus our work with measurable results.

For more on our accomplishments and to keep track on how we are doing throughout the year, feel free to check out our Targets Dashboard which is updated quarterly after each Board meeting.

In conclusion, thank you all for your help throughout the year. It is you that we are here to serve and your support makes all of the above accomplishments possible.

Have a very Happy New Year!
All the best,
Ken Berger