Philanthropic transparency is a catalyst for social change. Foundations with greater transparency can increase their impact on specific issues and strengthen the field of philanthropy as a whole. Transparency offers many benefits to funders, including strengthening credibility, increasing public trust, improving grantee relationships, reducing duplication of effort, facilitating greater collaboration, and building a community of shared learning

Because transparency is so critical to improving philanthropy, Candid offers many tools designed to help funders achieve greater levels of transparency in a variety of contexts. 

Improving transparency of overall sector data

Candid profiles give foundations a highly visible platform to share information about their mission, programs, finances, demographic information, impact data, and more. Actors across the social sector— including peer foundations, nonprofits, and individuals— access this data through Candid as a resource for benchmarking and decision making. 

Foundations can claim and complete their Candid profile to earn Seals of Transparency, showcase their impact, and promote greater transparency throughout the sector. Learn more about completing your Candid profile and earning Seals. 

Improving grants data transparency

When grantmakers share their data, the whole social sector benefits. When up-to-date grants data is readily available, nonprofits can effectively fundraise, and funders can make informed decisions about grantees.  

To make sharing your grants data as easy as possible, Candid partners with most grants management software applications so you can directly export pre-formatted reports. 

Sharing your grants data is also a great way to demonstrate your impact. Candid makes it easy to tell your grantmaking story accurately and broadly across the sector; the grants data you share with Candid helps power tools and resources like Candid search, public reports and white papers, online philanthropic dashboards, and more. Over 4 million queries are conducted annually on these tools, so we encourage grantmakers to submit grants data regularly to ensure the sector has a current view of your work.  

To promote greater transparency, foundations that choose to share their grants data with Candid will also receive a ‘Grants reporter’ badge on their Candid profile.

Improving social sector knowledge

Candid’s Issue Lab, which is an open-access library of social sector publications, currently contains more than 35,000 resources from a variety of social sector organizations. This includes case studies, evaluations, reports, and more published or funded by foundations or nonprofit organizations.  

Issue Lab serves as an archive for the field, allowing funders and practitioners to easily learn from what their colleagues already know and nonprofit organizations to highlight their work and impact. 

Sharing knowledge avoids duplication of effort and allows the field to build on the work of other organizations. But this can only work to its fullest potential if each of our organizations shares knowledge in a centrally accessible repository, such as Issue Lab. 

Register to start sharing your publications via Issue Lab so they are easily discoverable by others across the field.

Share your grants data
Candid

When grantmakers share their data, the whole social sector benefits. Funders see more applicants from relevant, mission-aligned nonprofits, and nonprofits can fundraise more effectively. Learn how to share your foundation’s grants data in two simple steps.  

How nonprofits share their knowledge, and why it's a good idea
Candid insights

Find out how charitable organizations and the nonprofit sector as a whole greatly benefit when nonprofits share their knowledge in the form of expertise, research, data, and first-hand learnings.

Philanthropy in practice
Candid IssueLab

This collection aims to address that for both newcomers and experts alike by featuring useful insights on “how-to-do” philanthropy from those working in the field as well as lessons learned. It draws on the experience and expertise shared by organizations throughout the social sector to provide guidance for those looking to do good. 

Open for good: Knowledge sharing to strengthen grantmaking
Candid

In Open for Good: Knowledge Sharing to Strengthen Grantmaking, grantmakers make a strong case for foundations to openly share knowledge as an integral and strategic aspect of philanthropy. Learn from their firsthand experience how to grow organizational capacity and culture for knowledge sharing, address common concerns, and use knowledge exchange to advance your mission and impact.

Does your foundation have glass pockets?
Candid

Use this checklist to review the 26 indicators that signal a foundation's openness, and to identify ways to improve your foundation's transparency practices. You can also use these indicators to guide an internal conversation about the value increased transparency would bring to your work, and to determine which indicators best align with your current values.