The Encompass Rating System reached an important milestone last month, transitioning out of beta and into its own as an evaluation system of nonprofit organizations. Over the last 18 months developing Encompass, the Charity Navigator team heard from thousands of donors who made it clear that they want to make a difference with their contributions. Encompass helps donors assess the impact and community benefits that an organization provides, and the likelihood that the organization will sustain impact into the future. Encompass will evolve and mature over time via three release cycles each year. Our plan is to share a “by the numbers” post after each release, so that interested parties can see how the number of ratings within the overall system and each beacon are scaling. We may also explore other points of interest in the aggregate.

The Encompass Rating System now rates 187,110 nonprofit organizations. 68% of nonprofits receive a passing score of 75 or higher, earning a “Give With Confidence” attribute from Charity Navigator.

When the Encompass project began, then as it does now, Charity Navigator rated 8,594 organizations through the Star Rating System. As we expand our reach to rate over 200,000 nonprofit organizations over the next year, we will bring these two systems together. An important first step to this process was to ensure that Star-rated organizations can now earn the Encompass beacons on Leadership & Adaptability, Impact & Results, and Culture & Community. Let’s dig into the numbers of around beacons.

Read the full article about Encompass by Moustafa Elshaabiny and Stephen Rockwell at Charity Navigator.