Meet the Team: My Nonprofit Journey - Bilal Taylor

Welcome to our Meet The Team series, where each month we will introduce a member of the Charity Navigator team to our readers. Millions of visitors come to

Charity Navigator annually, and they may be surprised to learn that we're a staff of 25! We often proudly state that we are a "small yet mighty team"-- achieving a lot with the resources we have, while staying focused on our mission. We are extremely honored to be a part of the nonprofit community where our footprint (and our ratings!) have expanded, and we are incredibly appreciative of the support received from our donors and users, nonprofits, and funders. We hope this series will be enlightening and entertaining. Click here for other profiles.

My name is Bilal Taylor, and I have served as the Vice President of Culture & Community at Charity Navigator since late June 2021.  In this role I have primary responsibility for building out the Culture & Community “beacon” in our new Encompass Rating System.  In time, our team will grow this beacon to rate charities/nonprofits based on how they center the voices of their staff and constituents in building equitable, inclusive organizational practices, and transformative programs in the communities they serve.

As Encompass Matures, Making Meaning from the Rating System

Written by Stephen Rockwell, Chief Ratings Technology Officer at Charity Navigator. Stephen leads the team of charity analysts, program specialists, and development engineers that launched the new Encompass rating methodology and criteria.

Charity Navigator launched the Leadership & Adaptability beacon this month, filling out the fourth and final domain within the Encompass Rating System. The new beacon provides donors with data on the leadership capabilities of a nonprofit organization in regards to:

• Strategy - Strategic thinking and goal setting. 
• Leadership - Description of how the organization mobilizes on their mission and develops leaders.
• Adaptability - Stories of how organizations changed and evolved during this tumultuous last pandemic year.  

Meet the Charity Navigator 2021 Summer Interns: Andrew Lora

Hello, my name is Andrew Lora, and I am the Marketing and Communications Intern at Charity Navigator. This summer, I have been faced with several different projects. At its core, my internship requires me to contribute to the creation of informative and impactful communications for donors and nonprofits. 

Meet the Charity Navigator Summer 2021 Interns: Alexis Tonge & Stevensky Mertyl

In our role as Research Development Interns at Charity Navigator, our focus for this internship has been to understand the giving behaviors of millennial donors in order to enhance our ability to guide future donations toward more effective and impactful nonprofits. We divide our time into three parts: literature reviews, survey research, and personal interviews. 

Meet the Charity Navigator 2021 Summer Interns: Zainab Farid

This summer, I had the privilege of working at Charity Navigator as their development intern. Under the tutelage of smart and kind mentors like Megan Ritter and Grace Dowd, I learned the ins and outs of the fundraising operations of an infrastructure-building nonprofit through a rotational internship.

Top 3 Reasons to Consider Making Recurring Gifts Instead of One-time Gifts

Maybe you've had one before or maybe you have one (or many) active at the moment. Recurring donations of any size and frequency can be not only more convenient for donors but highly preferred by nonprofits. Read on to discover my Top 3 Reasons to Consider Making Recurring Gifts instead of One-time Gifts.

Selecting a Nonprofit Addressing Homelessness

Giving back is very important to my wife and me.  We have developed deep relationships with local, national, and international nonprofits.  We use a disciplined process to identify causes and specific nonprofits for investment, as well as collaboration. One of these areas is homelessness.  We used Charity Navigator's website, studied Forms 990, and digested what was presented on the websites of a dozen candidates to determine the best fit for us.  When conducting exercises such as these, we focus on several questions:

 - Is their strategy compelling?

 - Do they differentiate themselves?

 - Is the organization sustainable and transparent?

 - Does scaling impact drive their organization?

We discovered a standout: Community Solutions.

Meet the Charity Navigator 2021 Summer Interns: Micalah Collins

Hello! My name is Micalah Collins, and I am the Advisory Research and Development Intern at Charity Navigator this summer. In my role, I assist the Advisory System Manager, Zachary Weinsteiger, in all things related to Charity Navigator’s Advisory System. This means that I help produce Advisories, which alert donors to relevant information about an organization not captured by ratings, and contribute to the day-to-day operations that keep the system running. On a given day, I may be checking various media monitoring tools for news that may warrant an Advisory for an organization; researching updated news and financial information about organizations already in the Advisory System; and recommending appropriate next steps (e.g., issuing an Advisory, removing an Advisory, keeping an Advisory posted, etc.) for the Charity Navigator Advisory Issuance Committee (CNAIC) to consider regarding the information I find. 

Encompass Advances with A New Rating on Leadership, Strategy, and Adaptability; Invites Nonprofit Storytelling

Written by Stephen Rockwell, Chief Ratings Technology Officer at Charity Navigator. Stephen leads the team of charity analysts, program specialists, and development engineers that launched the new Encompass rating methodology and criteria. 

Today, Charity Navigator launches the final of four beacons that comprise the Encompass Rating System. This first version of the Leadership & Adaptability beacon will provide donors with insights into the strategy, leadership and adaptability of nonprofit organizations.  It draws upon the deep reservoir of thinking and lived experience of nonprofit leaders and experts in the field of leadership and strategy to deliver key data points that allow nonprofits to demonstrate their strategic thinking and goal setting, their leadership activities and development, and their stories of adaptability in this tumultuous pandemic year.