WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The James V. Brown Library, 19 E. Fourth St., recently was awarded the 2024 Platinum Seal of Transparency, the highest level of recognition offered by GuideStar, a service of Candid.
By sharing metrics that highlight progress the Brown Library is making toward its mission, the organization is helping the public move beyond simplistic ways of nonprofit evaluation such as overhead ratios.
Amy C. Resh, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Brown Library, expressed enthusiasm for upholding the organization’s commitment to transparency in their work. “We’re thrilled to present our organization’s outcomes in an easily accessible and visually engaging format. By elevating our GuideStar Nonprofit Profile to the Platinum level, we can readily provide our supporters, along with GuideStar’s broader online community comprising donors, grant makers, peers, and media, with a comprehensive array of current organizational metrics.”
To reach the Platinum level, the Brown Library added extensive information to its Nonprofit Profile on GuideStar: basic contact and organizational information; in-depth financial information; qualitative information about goals, strategies, and capabilities; and quantitative information about results and progress toward its mission. By taking the time to provide this information, the Brown Library has demonstrated its commitment to transparency and to giving donors and funders meaningful data to evaluate nonprofit performance.
The library focuses on several metrics for success, including the number of participants attending programs, the number of people who walk through the doors, and the total of public computer and wi-fi usage. The Library’s profile is available at https://www.guidestar.org/profile/24-0799180.
The GuideStar database contains a profile for every tax-exempt nonprofit registered with the IRS. The profiles are populated with information directly from nonprofits, the IRS, and other partners in the nonprofit sector.
The James V. Brown Library is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. To place a hold, visit www.jvbrown.edu or call 570-326-0536 during the library’s operating hours. Walk-in passport services are available from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, and 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
The James V. Brown Library, 19 E. Fourth St., Williamsport, Pa., is the place to go to learn, connect and grow. Founded in June 1907, the library champions the love of reading, opens new doors to lifelong learning, provides a haven to those who seek and ensures the preservation of public library services for future generations. The library has more than 225,000 visitors in a year and circulates a half-million items annually. A member of the Lycoming County Library System, the James V. Brown Library participates in PA Forward, a statewide initiative to promote literacies in our communities to power a better future for everyone.
