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• Guidestar UK

GUIDESTAR UK

In December, GuideStar UK is launching its 'encyclopaedia' of 167,000 charities located in England and Wales. A test drive of the site tells us that researchers will adapt easily to the variables they meet and are likely to be pleased with the site's structure and features.

A Google-style home page invites users to enter a simple search term. Experienced information seekers can opt for an advanced search and look for what they want by keyword, the charity's name or registration number, postal code, total income or 'area of benefit.' That home page has a few other toys, including a 'roll the dice' feature where visitors can explore the database's content by categories such as Bullying, Africa or others. I bet these change often. There is a path to finding a charity to support as a volunteer, too.

GuideStar UK drops the results of a search into categories, Vivisimo-like clusters such as School, Foundation, Children and Young People, Scholarship and Memorial, for example. That can make getting to the right results easier. After your search retrieves names of charities, scroll-over icons (to the right of each charity-name) reveal six categories of information. The icons reveal:

1. financial information available
2. report and accounts available
3. a link to the charity's Web site, if there is one
4. documents provided by the charity
5. additional information provided by the charity
6. "this charity makes grants" indicator (grant-seeking and grant–making charities are in the database)

I looked at the H.F. Johnson Trust. The Summary page includes the list of trustees and other data. A link on the Summary page took me to the key information researchers seek, a scanned 2003 annual report. With a quick glance, I learned how the trust began, what the source of its funding is, what it supports, who are its 'professional advisors, which charities received grants and what the grants were. That vigorously meets a researcher's information needs, doesn't it?

As usual, go to the primary piece of information, not the summaries that intend to recreate the real stuff. The Johnson Trust summary quotes a key number incorrectly (it looks like a column may have narrowed precipitously and dropped a few zeros).

GuideStar UK warns visitors that finishing touches are underway. I noticed that the Search Results button didn't recall the results of my search, so that might be one of those touches to be finished. In the meantime, clink your mug against mine in a hearty toast to GuideStar UK for creating this fantastic resource for researchers, grantseekers and charity supporters.

http://www.guidestar.org.uk/

Cecilia Hogan

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