Candid—The New Nonprofit Formed by GuideStar, Foundation Center to Amplify the Social Sector

The two rockstars of the nonprofit data and information world, GuideStar and the Foundation Center, have joined forces to create a new nonprofit organization called Candid.

With the backing of GuideStar and the Foundation Center, Candid will bring to the table the renowned knowledge and expertise of data, technology, research and training to serve the social sector to promote more giving and smarter giving. Information is vital, and the nonprofit sector heavily relies on it. And with the information systems out there, there are also particular information challenges that the sector is currently facing.

“[The nonprofit sector is] one single social change community, whether nonprofit, foundation, individual donor or volunteer. Eventually, we need to have an information system that matches that unified character—that collected purpose. And that’s what [Candid] is all about,” Jacob Harold, EVP of Candid, said in an exclusive interview with NonProfit PRO.

Here are the initiatives that Candid is planning to roll out in the coming years, according to the announcement:

• Weaving together databases to enable more inclusive search results.
• Enabling results-driven analysis based upon improved program data.
• Expanding and accelerating the data standards across the field.
• Driving a common profile—and, eventually, a common grant application and reporting framework—by providing consistent data framework, a next-generation distribution system and place-based campaigns.
• Providing people working in the social sector opportunities to develop skills to help them succeed.
• Creating social functionality, including “give lists” and deeper integration into social media platforms.
• Developing a technology and knowledge-driven marketplace for RFPs.
• Creating a fundraising-planning tool for nonprofits.
• Directly integrating data and analysis into the tools that nonprofits, foundations and their partners use every day.

Candid wants to perform well and comprehensively. In the next year, the organization will focus on getting its operations integrated, maintaining what GuideStar and the Foundation Center have been doing and learning how to work together.

In the next coming years, Candid wants to be able to offer a 360° view of the work of creating social good and to drive up the efficiency of how information moves around the field—so there is no redoing the same proposal or wasting time trying to find an answer to a simple question.

“[Candid] believes that a few years from now, we can create a kind of efficiency that wasn’t possible before. Philanthropy is a human act, so let’s have an information system that reflects that. There’s a short term, a medium term and a long term, and we’re doing our best to navigate among those as we dive into this,” Harold said.

The costs of creating Candid and building for the future were funded by the estimated $27 million that was raised by the Bill & Melinda Gates, Charles Stewart Mott, and William and Flora Hewlett foundations, among other supporters, the release said.