Candid
See the World. Make it Better.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Now more than ever, open access to timely, nonpartisan data and intelligence is critical to the ability to solve increasingly complex social issues. Our field needs a data-driven institution with the scale to support and advance the work of social sector stakeholders as we traverse a period of closing political space, technological upheaval, and global opportunity.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Knowledge Tools
Through data, research, and our collective experience, Candid provides users with the knowledge they need to make strategic decisions and develop practical solutions to achieve their missions.
Our GuideStar database makes it easier to understand nonprofits and what they do. We support ongoing learning and research by sharing the sector’s collective knowledge on IssueLab while also producing our own research. Through Glasspockets we provide the data, resources, examples, and action steps foundations need to understand the value of transparency and be more open in their own communications. We work closely with organizations around the globe to assist them in collecting and organizing their region’s philanthropy data by sharing what we have learned about data acquisition and data architecture. Our CF Insights program is the leader in data collection and research for the community foundation field in the U.S. with a reputation for benchmarking and analysis of trends.
Data Tools
Candid ensures that nonprofit information is available whenever and wherever it is needed. Through our GuideStar database we share information on 2.8 million current and historic tax exempt organizations. Nonprofits use the tool to showcase their work, find partners for collaboration, and connect with other leaders in the field; donors use it to find nonprofits that champion the causes they care about. Our data feeds into tools used by community foundations, grants management vendors, grantmaking organizations, and philanthropic websites and applications such as Volunteer Match, AmazonSmile, and Facebook.
Foundation Directory Online (FDO) provides subscribers with access to timely, comprehensive information on U.S. grantmakers and their grants, plus a growing number of foundations located outside of the U.S. FDO contains data on 19 million grants and 166,000 grantmakers, and is freely accessible to organizations and community stakeholders at our 400+ FIN partners.
Foundation Maps contains records on more than 16.8 million grants, with innovative ways to visualize funding data, and the flexibility and precision to tailor research. This tool helps funders and nonprofits access the data they need to make strategic decisions and strengthen their impact.
Grantseeker Tools
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people use Candid’s searchable database, Foundation Directory Online (FDO), to find supporters and partners to advance their work. FDO, the world’s most robust source of foundation and grants data, is available for free use at our 400+ Funding Information Network (FIN) partners. Located at libraries, community foundations, and colleges, our FIN assures public access to our resources across the U.S. and several other countries. By making our subscription services accessible at no cost through our network and providing capacity building services online, we ensure that 99 percent of the people that use our services do so for free. We also provide free introductory trainings in-person and online to help nonprofit professionals learn the skills they need (such as proposal writing, prospect research, etc.) to find funding, enabling them to sustain their programs in the communities they serve.
Training
Candid operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge about philanthropy at every level, and provided under-resourced nonprofit organizations with the tools they need to better fulfill their missions.
Through Candid Learning, we provide tools and resources to help nonprofits become more viable grant applicants and build sustainable organizations. We offer trainings and special events in-person and online to build capacity in three core competencies: fundraising, organizational sustainability, and leadership and management. These resources help equip nonprofits to better serve their constituents and tackle critical social issues.
GrantCraft combines the collective wisdom of funders worldwide with Candid’s expertise to help funders increase the impact of their funds. GrantCraft delivers the knowledge funders need to be strategic and effective in their work, addressing questions they face across various strategies and issue areas.
We also train nonprofits in-person and online to help them complete their GuideStar nonprofit profiles and showcase their work. Organizations are empowered to tell their stories and explain their impact through programmatic metrics.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of organizations you can find on GuideStar
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of organizations who share enough information to earn a Seal of Transparency on GuideStar
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of Grants Coded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of Funding Information Network Partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of research reports and white papers available on IssueLab.org
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of websites and organizations (outside of our organization) that share our resources and information
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Candid provides trusted information, data-driven tools, research, analysis, best practices, and trainings to help the social sector increase its ability to affect change and transform lives. We represent the world’s largest repositories of trusted historical and present-day information on nonprofits, foundations, and the capital flows that bind them. We aim to create the future of data, information, and knowledge for the social sector. We will also work to enhance the services we offer to the millions of people who rely on us to help them make the world a better place.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Candid will develop a new generation of products and services that are technologically sophisticated and designed to champion the causes, organizations, and knowledge that power civil society worldwide. We will leverage our stores of talent, data, indicators, research, news, and capacity-building resources to improve philanthropic systems and practices in the U.S. and around the world, and will enable knowledge sharing with the potential to transform how civil society and the social sector learns and improves. We will continue to learn from our stakeholders to determine how to improve our offerings and provide tools that will help nonprofits, foundations, giving platforms, and other social sector stakeholders achieve their missions.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With more than 80 years of collective experience supporting the social sector, Candid has the staff expertise, organizational capacity, and leadership to provide new resources and services for those in the social sector and beyond.
We are fortunate to have a staff of 200+ dedicated professionals skilled in building tools and delivering services to nonprofits, foundations, professionals, and individuals; stable financials and a plan for continued sustainability; an engaged board of directors from a wide variety of disciplines; and a large group of committed funders. Our staff leadership has a long track record of expanding our service to the field, often by capitalizing on new technologies. By developing the skills and knowledge base of our staff, we ensure that we can continue to innovate, and effectively identify and meet needs in the sector as they arise.
Candid’s combined history of serving nonprofits, grantmakers, researchers, and do-gooders of all kinds provides us with unique insights into the the evolving needs of the social sector. These insights help us shape our offerings and ensure that we keep our finger on the pulse of what our users need to help them do good. We have long held that increasing transparency in our sector would increase its effectiveness, and that democratizing access to data, knowledge, and resources would level the playing field for those working to improve their communities and champion their causes. The combination of a trusted history of providing non-partisan data and knowledge and the ability to create cutting edge technology to propel the social sector forward gives us a unique vantage point from which to serve those who are working to build a better world.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Candid was formed in 2019 with the integration of Foundation Center and GuideStar. The guiding work and missions of Foundation Center and GuideStar were complementary, and we collaborated over the years on data processing efficiencies, data standards for the social sector, and the development of a registry of unique identification numbers for nonprofits globally. We have helped each other maintain data standards and protect the integrity of the data that we collect. For example, one of our most recent collaborations included building the Basic Registry of Identified Global Entities (BRIDGE). BRIDGE numbers help the social sector discover what other data exists, integrate data systems, and ensure that nonprofits and service organizations are discoverable. Both organizations have made great strides in advancing the social sector, and we look forward to the exciting year that lies ahead.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Candid
Board of directorsas of 03/22/2023
Rhett Mabry
The Duke Endowment
Term: 2023 -
Ana Marie Argilagos
HIP-Hispanics in Philanthropy
Melissa Berman
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.
Stephen Goodall
J.D. Power
Neal Hegarty
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Deborah Hoover
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation
T. Sylvester John
Massmart (Walmart Africa)
Brian Trelstad
Bridges Fund Management
Naila Farouky
Arab Foundations Forum
Rosa Gallego
Asociación Española de Fundaciones (AEF; Spanish Association of Foundations)
Matt Gee
BrightHive
Rhett Mabry
The Duke Endowment
Mosun Layode
African Philanthropy Forum
Kami Dar
Uniti Networks
Kenneth Jones
MacArthur Foundation
Donna Murray-Brown
Michigan Nonprofit Association
Ann Mei Chang
Candid
Angela F. Williams
United Way Worldwide
Esther Benjamin
World Education Services
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 04/08/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.