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Cause IQ's benchmark tool allows you to compare quantitative details for up to 500 organizations at once. Whether you're comparing a client to its peers, or running a price analysis for proposal development, Cause IQ's benchmark tool generates customized reports that show changes over time for any relevant quantitative data field (e.g., Total revenues, Accounting fees, Number of employees)

You can access the Cause IQ benchmark tool directly from the search interface by clicking the "Benchmark" tab in the middle of the page. Additionally, if you want to benchmark organizations you've added to a list (manually or imported via CSV) select "Benchmark organizations or personnel" from the list's profile. 

Here's where to access Cause IQ's benchmark tool from the search interface:

Here's where to access Cause IQ's benchmark tool from a list's profile:

Once you've accessed the benchmark tool, you have the option to select which type of benchmark report you want to generate, "Organization details" or "Compensation of key personnel."  You want to select "Organization details." Next, you're prompted to select if you want to include a reference organization in your report; this is the baseline organization that's compared to the other organizations. This feature is optional. 

You can pick a reference organization from the group of benchmarked organizations by choosing the "Select among organizations being benchmarked" option. If you want to choose a specific organization (e.g., a client) as the reference organization, you can search for the organization by "Name or EIN" by selecting "Search for reference organization."Additionally, if you can't find the reference organization you are looking for by "Name or EIN," you can search for a reference organization by "State," that falls within a specific "Revenue Rage." Here's an overview video of the "Benchmark type" step of the benchmarking process:

With the "Benchmark type" step complete, it's time to select which quantitative (e.g., financial) organization details you want to include in your report. You can benchmark all available quantitative fields within Cause IQ (at this time you can only benchmark raw values, not percentages). You select the relevant fields (e.g., Accounting fees) that you want to include in your report by clicking "Change columns" on the right, search for the desired fields, and click "Add field." You can also find the fields you want to add to your benchmark report by category. These sections mirror the ones in the "See more filters..." section of the search filter sidebar.

After selecting the organization detail columns to include in your report, you have some analysis options. Choosing "Normalize histogram chart (versus chart with equal size columns)" includes the organizations' names in the report; selecting "Anonymize peer organizations (hide their names)" excludes the organizations' names in the report. Here's a look at the "Fields & Analysis" step: 

With the "Fields & Analysis" step complete, it's time to generate your Cause IQ benchmark report. With respect to the selected quantitative fields, the group of benchmarked organizations is represented by both a line and histogram graph. The line graph shows you the change (over the past five years) in the selected quantitative fields for the benchmarked organizations. The histogram graph breaks down where the benchmarked organizations fall with respect to the selected quantitative fields by rages. Cause IQ's benchmark report identifies the reference organization (e.g., client) with a red line. This allows you to get a better understanding of where the reference organization falls amongst the group of benchmarked organizations. 

The bottom of the report includes a table of the benchmarked organizations. The table lists the group of benchmarked organization and includes the selected quantitative fields (from the most recent Form 990 or Form 990-PF).  The column headers are sortable. Clicking the quantitative field sorts the organizations accordingly. Here's an overview video of Cause IQ's customized benchmark reports:  

Cause IQ's "Benchmark" tool packages the benchmarked information into an easily downloadable Excel file. From the "Report" stage, select "Download to Excel" and Cause IQ begins the download process. The Excel file includes an "Overview" worksheet that summarizes the benchmarked group, identifies the reference organization, and provides general details on the quantitative fields selected and how the reference organization stacks up against the group. The file also includes an "Organizations" worksheet that lists the names of the benchmarked organizations, their EINs, and the selected quantitative fields from the most recent Form 990 or Form 990-PF. The "Data" worksheets in the Excel file is where you find the selected quantitative data points for the benchmarked organizations over the past five years. Here is a screenshot of where to download your customized benchmark Excel file: