Small Grassroots Nonprofits Take Top Spots in Green Choice Awards
GreatNonprofits.org has named the winners of its Green Choice Awards for best environmental nonprofits, based on reviews by people who've worked with or been helped by the nonprofits.
GreatNonprofits.org has named the winners of its 2009 Green Choice Awards for best environmental nonprofits. The winners, based on reviews by people who've worked with the groups, been helped by them or just donated to them, are mostly smaller, grassroots organizations.
Throughout April, GreatNonprofits asked for reviews and ratings for any environmental nonprofit, taking in 835 reviews for a little more than 100 organizations. Smaller organizations garnered more reviews overall, with fewer reviews for bigger, more well known groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, for example, got only four reviews while the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group received 44 reviews.
“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,” said Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits.
The Green Choice Awards winners are:
* Annual Budget Less Than $250,000: Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group, a San Francisco group that cleans up local parks, planting and caring for vegetables and gardens.
* Annual Budget Between $250,000 and $1 Million: Slide Ranch, a Muir Beach, Calif., ranch that includes an organic garden, trails, goats, chickens and more, providing education about healthy food and the environment.
* Annual Budget More Than $1 Million: the Chewonki Foundation, of Wiscasset, Maine, which teaches nature appreciation through canoe and sailboat explorations, wilderness backpacking trips and more.
* Best of Northeast: Global Links, of Pittsburgh, Pa., refurbishes, sorts, and sends donated hospital equipment like beds, wheelchairs, IV poles and machines to Latin American and Caribbean countries.
* Best of Southeast: Solar Electric Light Fund, a Washington, DC, group that provides power for water pumps, schools, health clinics, homes and drip irrigation in villages in developing countries.
* Best of Midwest: PLACE, of Minneapolis, Minn., which is a nonprofit developer that works with cities to build green and affordable housing.
* Best of Southwest: Center for Biological Diversity, in Tucson, Ariz., which works to protect the habitats of endangered species. They wrote the petition that got the polar bear listed under the Endangered Species Act, and they've succeeded in protecting habitats for orcas in the Northwest and wolves in the Rockies.
* Best of West: Foundation for Sustainable Development, a San Francisco group that has partnered with more than 200 community-based organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America on projects like construction of communal clothes-washing areas and non-polluting bathrooms, teaching organic farming methods and establishing vegetable nurseries and organic gardens at local schools.
Throughout April, GreatNonprofits asked for reviews and ratings for any environmental nonprofit, taking in 835 reviews for a little more than 100 organizations. Smaller organizations garnered more reviews overall, with fewer reviews for bigger, more well known groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, for example, got only four reviews while the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group received 44 reviews.
“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,” said Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits.
The Green Choice Awards winners are:
* Annual Budget Less Than $250,000: Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group, a San Francisco group that cleans up local parks, planting and caring for vegetables and gardens.
* Annual Budget Between $250,000 and $1 Million: Slide Ranch, a Muir Beach, Calif., ranch that includes an organic garden, trails, goats, chickens and more, providing education about healthy food and the environment.
* Annual Budget More Than $1 Million: the Chewonki Foundation, of Wiscasset, Maine, which teaches nature appreciation through canoe and sailboat explorations, wilderness backpacking trips and more.
* Best of Northeast: Global Links, of Pittsburgh, Pa., refurbishes, sorts, and sends donated hospital equipment like beds, wheelchairs, IV poles and machines to Latin American and Caribbean countries.
* Best of Southeast: Solar Electric Light Fund, a Washington, DC, group that provides power for water pumps, schools, health clinics, homes and drip irrigation in villages in developing countries.
* Best of Midwest: PLACE, of Minneapolis, Minn., which is a nonprofit developer that works with cities to build green and affordable housing.
* Best of Southwest: Center for Biological Diversity, in Tucson, Ariz., which works to protect the habitats of endangered species. They wrote the petition that got the polar bear listed under the Endangered Species Act, and they've succeeded in protecting habitats for orcas in the Northwest and wolves in the Rockies.
* Best of West: Foundation for Sustainable Development, a San Francisco group that has partnered with more than 200 community-based organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America on projects like construction of communal clothes-washing areas and non-polluting bathrooms, teaching organic farming methods and establishing vegetable nurseries and organic gardens at local schools.
