Philanthropedia

Philanthropedia operated as a crowdsourcing platform designed to guide donors toward high-impact nonprofit organizations. The company was established in 2008 by a team of Stanford alumni: Erik Bengtsson, Howard Bornstein, Chris Herndon, and Deyan Vitanov. It began as an incubator project at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, initially named the Nonprofit Knowledge Network (NKN) with financial backing from the Hewlett Foundation. In 2009, NKN officially incorporated and rebranded as Philanthropedia.

The core of Philanthropedia's business model was to identify effective nonprofits by surveying and interviewing a network of experts, including foundation professionals, academics, and nonprofit leaders. This methodology aimed to provide donors with a more holistic evaluation of a nonprofit's impact beyond simple financial metrics. The platform served individual donors looking to make more informed giving decisions, effectively acting as a social investor resource. Its primary service was publishing rankings of top-performing nonprofits across various cause areas like climate change, education, and microfinance. For a time, it also offered "Expert Mutual Funds," which allowed donors to contribute to a portfolio of top-rated nonprofits within a specific sector, with Philanthropedia distributing the funds.

A significant milestone occurred in March 2011 when GuideStar, the largest source of nonprofit information at the time, announced its acquisition of Philanthropedia. This move integrated Philanthropedia's expert-based review system into GuideStar's extensive database of nonprofit profiles. Philanthropedia continued to operate as a division of GuideStar, running its research and ranking programs. The journey continued when, in February 2019, GuideStar merged with Foundation Center to create a new, singular nonprofit entity named Candid. Candid now represents the combined data and expertise of its predecessors, aiming to provide comprehensive insights into the social sector by tracking financial flows and their impact. The original Philanthropedia website is no longer active, with its functions absorbed into the broader mission of Candid.

Keywords: Philanthropedia, nonprofit evaluation, charitable giving, expert sourcing, high-impact nonprofits, donor resources, social sector analysis, GuideStar, Candid, nonprofit ranking, philanthropy data, Nonprofit Knowledge Network, Deyan Vitanov, Erik Bengtsson, foundation research, social impact, nonprofit effectiveness, philanthropic advisory, expert surveys, charity ratings