Wyman Center Makes Top S&I 100 Nonprofits

Eureka-based Wyman Center caught the attention of a national entity that compiled a first-ever list of nonprofits to provide potential donors with assurances that their donations would be used by programs that have significant and sustainable impacts.

The new Social Impact 100 Index, already abbreviated to S&I 100 in industry references, is a first-time endeavor to provide research-based information and evidence of results and potential of a host of nonprofits.

The Social Impact Exchange was launched by the Growth Philanthropy Network (GPN), in partnership with Duke University - Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society (CSPCS) and its Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), according to the indexes' webpage.

Eureka-Wildwood Patch readers know about the efforts of The Wyman Center's staff through articles about the group's recent new hall; through community events they host, such as the Wobble Gobble trail race; and sometimes through the . At the Wyman Center, young people who participate in the Teen Outreach Program were shown to have a 60 percent lower risk of dropping out of school or failing courses, and a 53 percent lower risk of becoming pregnant or fathering a child.

A press release about the launch of this new index indicated the S&I 100 is designed to track the number of people served across the portfolio of these top nonprofits the same way the S&P 500 tracks the profitability of America’s large-cap companies.

“Right now, donors have no easy way of knowing which nonprofits are truly effective at helping people in need, which means that fewer charitable dollars are going to those programs that can do the most good,” said Alex Rossides, president of the Social Impact Exchange, in the release.

Rossides said that by “taking the guesswork out of giving, the S&I 100 has the potential to transform individual philanthropy the same way the S&P 500 changed investing for individual investors.”

Exchange representatives stated through information about the selected nonprofits that each had been rigorously screened for evidence of their impact. S&I 100 spokespeople said the platform enables donors to give directly to 100 nonprofits and nearly 16,000 local affiliates that have been screened.

The other two St. Louis area organizations to make the new list were the OASIS Institute and College Bound.