Posted on November 20, 2012

'Social Impact 100' Index of High-Impact Nonprofits Launched

The Social Impact Exchange, a cross-sector initiative designed to support the growth of high-impact social programs, has announced the launch of what it calls the first broad index of top-performing U.S. nonprofit organizations with proof of results and high potential for expansion.

The Social Impact 100 aggregates and tracks evidence-based high-impact nonprofits the same way the S&P 500 tracks the profitability of large-cap companies. The S&I 100's platform enables donors to give directly to a hundred nonprofits, and nearly sixteen thousand local affiliates, that have been screened for evidence of impact and the ability to reach people in need.

Launched by the Growth Philanthropy Network, in partnership with Duke University's Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society and the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, the exchange is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett, Robert Wood Johnson, and Rockefeller foundations, and is being offered to the philanthropic clients of donor-advised funds like Schwab Charitable.

"Right now, donors have no easy way of knowing which nonprofits are truly effective at helping people in need, which means that fewer charitable dollars are going to those programs that can do the most good," said Social Impact Exchange president Alex Rossides. "The S&I 100 changes that. By taking the guesswork out of giving, the S&I 100 has the potential to transform individual philanthropy the same way the S&P 500 changed investing for individual investors."