Candid is a data organisation serving the philanthropy and nonprofit sector. Founded in 2019 through the merger of GuideStar and Foundation Center, it aggregates and distributes data on foundations, nonprofits and grants, with the stated aim of putting vital data into the hands of those who need it most. The work spans data aggregation, data infrastructure, search technology, APIs and data analytics for philanthropy.
The company's technical surface includes Candid APIs, which give programmatic access to its datasets; Candid search, a tool for finding funding opportunities and information on foundations, nonprofits and grants; and Candid data solutions, which deliver social sector data to organisations as products. The underlying data covers over 1.9 million organisation profiles, roughly 3 million grant transactions tracked annually and about $180 billion in annual grant dollars. Related products include Seals of Transparency, credentials nonprofits can earn on their claimed profiles to signal accountability to donors, and free training resources on using data effectively in the social sector.
Candid operates across philanthropy, foundations and grantmaking and the wider nonprofit and charitable-giving sector. Its culture signals emphasise mission-driven work on social impact and informed philanthropy, transparency and accountability, and broad accessibility of data.
