Playing to the Test: Organizational Responses to Third Party Ratings

External ratings of organizations have proliferated in the last few decades, impacting not only the behavior of consumers but also of the organizations being rated. This phenomenon has been widely studied in regards to the U.S. News and World Reports ratings of universities and law schools. This article strives to understand how third party ratings impact the behavior of nonprofits using the financial data the nonprofits provide in their IRS Forms 990. The results show that such ratings are, in fact, having an effect on how nonprofits report financial information on the IRS Form 990.