Check out the Nonprofit Data Scorecard here.

We aim to change the culture of nonprofit data. To that end, we hope that the map we’ve created will kick off a conversation about the importance of quality, timely and transparent nonprofit record-keeping. After all, we can’t know much about today’s nonprofit landscape without a comprehensive public record.

We’re presenting the Nonprofit Data Scorecard to the public openly and for free because we think it can do good things for the nonprofit community at large. If you’re a journalist or blogger, you might see the map as a springboard for telling the story of transparency in government. If you’re a state government employee, maybe you’ll better understand how your state’s record-keeping stacks up against the rest of the nation. Or if you work in philanthropy, maybe you’ll value knowing where the most comprehensive records live and where improvements in access to information are warranted.

We think the map can be used to:

• Spark a friendly competition between states for “Highest Quality Nonprofit Data”
• Help make Government 2.0 a reality with greater transparency, freer flowing data, and better record keeping
• Show journalists & bloggers that data, presented well, can tell stories
• Show nonprofits that mapping & data visualization is an affordable, scalable way to tell their story

We believe that mixing open source culture with public data can help funders of all shapes and sizes collaborate more effectively toward a truly venture-style approach to project funding.

Keep in mind that all of this is offered as part 1 of what we hope will be a sustained and open conversation about data. We invite you, the public, to check out our work and methodologies for yourself, and to suggest, challenge, adjust and add to the data set. Learn how to do that here.

If you have any thoughts on the Scorecard, ideas for where we ought to go next, or innovative suggestions we haven’t thought of yet – please let us know! Leave a comment here, follow @nonprofitmap on Twitter, or shoot us an email at nonprofitmap@gmail.com.