501 Commons
A resource for nonprofits. A partner for philanthropy.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
There are 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States. They are tackling problems we all want addressed like hunger, youth suicide, and domestic violence; economic development, water policy, or emergency services; drop-out prevention, stronger reading skills, and college access. The staff, boards, and volunteers in these organizations are working hard but there is tremendous untapped potential in our nonprofits. Because most of the funding available to nonprofits can only be used for programs, even large nonprofits have extremely limited budgets for planning, board development, operational improvement, and basic HR, technology, and financial systems. How can we unleash their potential to make the world a better place unless we provide nonprofits with affordable access to the skills and tools necessary to overcome operational and governance barriers and grow effective programs?
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Technology Services
501 Commons wants nonprofits to have access to the best technology available and the knowledge to put it to good use. Our services include technology consulting as well as ongoing support. We offer services in the following areas:
IT Infrastructure (full and limited managed services, augmented support for organizations with internal IT)
Database development, administration, and maintenance
Technology strategy
Management Consulting
501 Commons provides a full range of management consulting services, meeting/retreat design and facilitation, and customized training for schools and nonprofits. Examples of service areas include:
Board Development
Executive Advising
Human Resources
Staff & Client Surveys
Program Development & Evaluation
Meeting & Retreat Facilitation
Marketing & Communications
Grant strategy, research, and review
Fundraising advice and support
Emergency Preparedness & Service Continuity
Volunteer Management
Financial Services
501 Commons offers a wide array of financial services. Our bookkeepers and accountants provide a full range of services including check and deposit preparation, account reconciliation, payroll, taxes, related government reporting, Board report preparation, and Form 990 filing. In addition to getting a skilled bookkeeper who knows the ins and outs of nonprofit accounting, participating nonprofits also get access to everything 501 Commons knows about financial management.
Information & Referral
Personalized assistance by email and phone as well as a robust website visited by over 6000 (unique) individuals a month. The Statewide Nonprofit Resource Directory on www.501commons.org includes thousands of best practice materials, useful links, the Technology Knowledge Center, an online Volunteer Management Center, and listings of more than 85 consultants and service providers serving nonprofits in Washington that have been reviewed and selected by 501 Commons.
Where we work
Awards
Friend of MEDC Award 2007
Minority Executive Directors Coalition
Management Excellence Award - First Place 1992
The Medina Foundation
Evergreen Award 2006
Executive Alliance
Exemplary Innovative Program - Emergency Planning 2014
America's Service Commissions & Innovations in Civic Participation
Featured Finalist - Innovation and Leadership Awards - Executive Service Corps 2014
Amerca's Service Commissions
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Information & Referral
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
The 501 Commons website is used by nonprofits throughout the United States and the world because of the extensive curated resources for nonprofits available on the site.
Number of websites and organizations (outside of our organization) that share our resources and information
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Information & Referral
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is an estimate, based on website searches, of active links to 501 Commons services and resources.
Number of people on the organization's email list
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
501 Commons Master List. Does not include GiveBIG list.
Number of individuals attending community events or trainings
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Information & Referral
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We offered fewer sessions in 2020- 2022 and attendance per session was down.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
These are the number of clients receiving contracted services. Does not include GiveBIG/Washington Gives fundraising platform or trainings.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Nonprofit organizations are tackling problems we all want addressed. The staff, boards, and volunteers of these organizations are working hard; however, they cannot realize their potential without the proper tools, services, and expertise.
501 Commons provides nonprofits with affordable access to an array of resources and customized services necessary to increase the number of people, families, and communities that benefit from nonprofits.
Our board has defined three overarching goals into the following end policies:
End Policies
End #1: Washington nonprofit leaders access and benefit from the skills, knowledge, and practices required for a healthy nonprofit.
End #2: Organizations exhibit the characteristics described in the Five Elements of a Healthy Nonprofit.
End #3: Nonprofits, government, philanthropy, and businesses in Washington are working together to solve community problems.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Strategy 1: Provide customized and affordable services to build nonprofit capacity
HR and Management Consulting Services
Foundational Capacity Building - contracted ongoing services
Information and Referral
Technology Services
Strategy 2: Promote partnerships/collaborations with capacity builders, nonprofits, philanthropy, government and business. For example, we produce the largest giving day in Washington State, GiveBIG and sponsor a "Zap the Gap" initiative to encourage partnerships with business to address the gap in access to technology that is holding back nonprofits.
Strategy 3: Act as a thought leader to the nonprofit, philanthropic, government and business community through speeches, blog posts, research and funding proposal for innovative approaches to increasing nonprofit effectiveness.
Our broad contact with the sector - 1200+ engagement a year and 450 information and referral cases - gives us information on the needs of the sector that we can disseminate to funders, government, and business.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
501 Commons is currently the largest nonprofit support organization in the Pacific Northwest and one of the largest in the country. No other similar organization offers such a broad array of services - with the added bonus of generating a $1 million in donated services from volunteers.
501 Commons staff, subcontractors and volunteer consultants, advisors, and coaches worked on over 1200 contracted projects in 2018 with about 700 organizations. In addition our Information and Referral Program Manager, Matt Fikejs, and many expert staff members completed 463 I&R cases. Approximately 650 nonprofit staff and board members attended one of the trainings/convenings offered by 501 Commons.
Our internationally sought out website which includes thousands of pages of carefully curated resources, tools and best practices had 105,000 sessions in 2018. We offer the first of its kind vetted directory of 115+ consultants and service providers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
501 Commons has served nonprofits since 1989. We currently provide services to more than 1000 organizations each year and 650 board and staff members or volunteers participate in training and convenings each year.
Through our online resources, especially the Best Practices section of the Resource Directory, the organization now provides support to individuals throughout the world.
The organization has experienced a very high level of growth over the last 10 years and currently has a staff of 50+, and a Executive Service Corps program that includes 500+ skilled volunteers. This allows us to provide a the broadest array of resources and services available to nonprofits anywhere in the United States.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
501 Commons
Board of directorsas of 12/14/2023
Richard Starnes
Deloitte
Term: 2021 - 2024
Kasa Tupua Pierson
Ballard High School
Richard Starnes
Deloitte
Frank Hagel
Pres. Hagel and Co.
Chris Miller
Avanade
Janice DeGuchi
Community for Youth
Greg Dietzal
Former, IBM
Ivan Lee
T-Mobile
Marc Garcia
CFO Salvation Army
Salley Anderson
CFO, Bullitt Fnd
Chris McClincy
CIO, Expeditors
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/05/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.