Menlo Park, Calif. — April 30, 2009 — Grassroots nonprofits get top votes for best environmental nonprofits, according to GreatNonprofits’ 2009 Green Choice Awards. The contest, held during Earth Month in April, asked people to submit reviews and ratings about environmental nonprofits. The results provide surprising insights into the kinds of organizations that are considered effective by volunteers, donors and stakeholders.
Over the course of Earth Month, more than 26,000 people visited the GreatNonprofits website, and 835 reviews were posted about 104 environmental organizations.
“It’s wonderful to see the expression of positive comments on the GreatNonprofits Web site, and we are motivated to do even more to deserve this praise,” says Charles Higgins, executive director of Slide Ranch, which won for best environmental organization with an annual budget between $250,000 and $1 million.
Barbara Wenger runs the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group, the winner among organizations with budgets of $250,000 or less. She says, “We are so honored to be selected, and more importantly to be reviewed so highly by people. I am shocked and thrilled. Even if we didn't win, just reading all of those wonderful reviews is so amazing.”
While big organizations such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club were available for review, those groups didn’t see the kinds of results that their leaner counterparts did. For example, the reviews for the NRDC totaled 5, while the tiny Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group garnered 44.
“There are so many great nonprofits who don’t have an advertising budget and are not household names. Similar to what Yelp has done for small restaurants, we enable grassroots nonprofits to gain recognition,” says Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits. “Now there’s an even playing field through the genuine testimonials and reviews of people who have seen the work of a nonprofit first-hand. Donors and volunteers now have a source of information for which nonprofits are accountable and effective.”
The winning organizations of this year’s Green Choice Awards are (including a sample of submitted comments):
Annual Budget Less Than $250,000
Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group
San Francisco, Calif.
Once a hang-out for drug dealers and prostitutes, now youngsters plant organic vegetables and care for gardens. The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group is an all-volunteer group that has cleaned up local parks and turned them into fun, safe places for the neighborhood to enjoy nature.
