Candid (organization)
Candid (organization)
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Candid (organization)

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Candid (organization)

Candid is an information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies. In 2016, its database provided information on 2.5 million organizations. It is the product of the February 2019 merger of GuideStar with Foundation Center.

The organization maintains comprehensive databases on grantmakers and their grants; issues a wide variety of print, electronic, and online information resources; conducts and publishes research on trends in foundation growth, giving, and practice; and offers education and training programs.

GuideStar was one of the first central sources of information on U.S. nonprofits and is the world's largest source of information about nonprofit organizations. GuideStar also serves to verify that a recipient organization is established and that donated funds go where the donor intended for individuals looking to give in the wake of disasters.

Guidestar was founded by Arthur "Buzz" Schmidt in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1994, under the name Philanthropic Research, Inc. The company, which provided nonprofit information, officially received tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) public charity in 1996. In July of that year, Philanthropic Research, Inc. published the GuideStar Directory of American Charities, a CD and printed index that presented full reports on 35,000 charities and partial reports on 7,000 other charities. That fall, Philanthropic Research, Inc. officially launched its GuideStar website, allowing it to update the data more frequently and provide more extensive information. The organizations began doing business under the name, "GuideStar", although its official name remained Philanthropic Research, Inc. until September 2008.

Beginning in 1997, GuideStar began posting information on all 501(c)(3) nonprofits in the IRS Business Master File. By December, the database held information on more than 600,000 nonprofits.

As of 1998, GuideStar provided digitized Form 990 data on its website's individual public charities pages. In January 1998, GuideStar received an award for Nonprofit Web Site Excellence from Philanthropy Journal, with an honorable mention for "Service to the Sector" for its searchable database of (at that time) more than 620,000 U.S. nonprofit organizations. In October 1999, GuideStar began posting 501(c)(3) public charities' annual information returns, known as IRS Forms 990 and 990-EZ.

GuideStar began publishing an annual Nonprofit Compensation Report in 2001. The first edition was derived from compensation data reported to the IRS by nearly 75,000 charities. In response to 9/11, GuideStar expanded the database to include non-charitable organizations eligible to accept tax-deductible contributions, along with special 9/11 funds and programs. GuideStar also collaborated with the New York State Attorney General's Office, providing data for the WTC Relief Info site. In November 2001, Time named Schmidt one of seven innovators in philanthropy for the new millennium. At the end of the year, the New Mexico Attorney General's Office launched an on-line Charities Research Service based on a customized version of the GuideStar database and search engine.

In February 2002, former PBS Chief Operating Officer Robert G. Ottenhoff took on Schmidt's role as president, and Schmidt became chairman of GuideStar's board. At the end of the year, GuideStar released the results of its first annual nonprofit economic survey.

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