Vetting a Nonprofit

When deciding where you want to volunteer, you should carefully consider each nonprofit before you dedicate your efforts to their cause. To ensure that the organization you are supporting is legitimate, you should ‘vet’ the nonprofit, or evaluate and take a critical examination of the organization. Sometimes, nonprofits use flashy advertising and marketing strategies in order to garner people’s support, but in reality, they are not helping the people they claim to support to the best of their ability. Below, I have created a list of steps you should take to confirm that the nonprofit you wish to support is legitimate and effective.

1. Visit the nonprofit and examine the organization’s environment. You can learn a lot from a nonprofit by visiting their facilities in-person. If you express your interest in volunteering to other volunteers who are working there, you will likely hear their opinions and stories about the organization, which will paint a picture of how the nonprofit functions.
   
2. Talk to the nonprofit’s volunteer coordinator or another staff member. By having a conversation with the organization’s staff, you can learn more about the inner workings of the nonprofit and how they strive towards their goals of building a stronger community.
   
3. Look for the long-term effects that the nonprofit has on the community. Doing research on the organization’s efforts will help you learn about how the nonprofit has been benefiting the community over a long period of time. Sometimes, larger nonprofit organizations will over exaggerate their successes in their reports; while they claim to be helping hundreds, maybe thousands, of underserved individuals, the effects of their efforts might not stand the tests of time. This could be because they didn’t provide enough support or resources to the underserved community to help them remain stable and autonomous.
   
4. Lastly, make sure that the nonprofit is putting the people they serve first. Some less trustworthy organizations might spend more of their donations on their staff’s needs over the community’s needs. They might cut programs to fit the needs of their staff or volunteers, or they might host events that might seem appealing to donors but are deemed unnecessary by the people being served. Check to make sure that the nonprofit you wish to volunteer for is utilizing their money properly by prioritizing the community.
   

Not to worry; there are plenty of nonprofit organizations within the Triangle community that are trustworthy and have admirable causes, hardworking staff members, and great reputations. At Triangle Cares, we have dedicated hours of research into numerous nonprofits in the area, and we have partnered with many nonprofits that have shown phenomenal work in bettering the community. To learn more about these organizations, go to our ‘Nonprofits’ page and check out the nonprofits listed