What's New at Candid (formerly Foundation Center and GuideStar) (March 2019)

March brings the first days of Spring and the beginning of new things. At Candid, we've been marking new beginnings with game-changing training programs and convenings, attendance at great conferences, and valuable research. Here are some of the recent highlights:

Projects Launched

• There is no one-size-fits-all solution to capacity building, but a new series of GrantCraft case studies provides funders with networking and collaboration insights that can empower their grantees to invest in capacity building. Each case study has been developed in partnership with Community Wealth Partners and draws on that organization's capacity-building work with funders and grantees. Together, the studies showcase varied approaches to addressing the long-term capacity needs of grantees and provide valuable insights for foundations, consultants, and practitioners. The series also pilots a new approach for GrantCraft in which we tap the wisdom of technical assistance providers in making sure learnings from foundation projects are shared widely.
• Glasspockets recently hit a milestone, publishing its one hundredth profile of a funder that has publicly participated in the "Who Has Glass Pockets?" self-assessment. To celebrate, Glasspockets has launched a blog series, the "Road to 100 & Beyond," featuring foundations that have played a part in the site reaching this milestone. In addition to helpful examples, the series highlights reflections on why transparency is important, how openness inside foundations evolves over time, and lessons learned.
• We added a new infographic to the Foundation Funding for U.S. Democracy portal which shows the U.S. dropping to #71 on the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index — the first time since 2011 the U.S. has fallen out of the top 20. According to the infographic, about 3 percent of overall funding for democracy work goes to open government and transparency efforts. You can check it out and more at foundationcenter.org/infographics.
• Grantmakers in the Arts published its annual Arts Funding Snapshot in the Winter 2019 edition of the GIA Reader. The snapshot looks at foundation giving for arts and culture for 2016, based on the most recent complete year of data for a set of the largest U.S.-based private and community foundations (by total giving). A webinar that explores the findings is available on the GIA website.
• GuideStar launched updated APIs with new data and filters, as well as new internal administrative functions, meaning you can now get more data through GuideStar's Premier API that you can't find anywhere else, including nonprofit logos, demographic information, and due-diligence information. You can also search for organizations in new ways, thanks to new filters that enable users to sort by organizations that are in good standing with the IRS and by cause area.

Content Published

• New blog posts on WASHfunders.org on topics such as disability-inclusive WASH programs, providing safe access to water during disasters, and moving beyond just building toilets.
• New blog posts on PhilanTopic, including "Board Diversity: Moving from Awareness to Action," "Five Elements of Success in Capacity Building," and an update from Candid (Foundation Center+GuideStar).
• New blog posts on GrantSpace, including how to build and sustain fundraising talent, how to use data to measure your impact, and how Candid is moving toward a regional, community-based approach to services
• New blog posts on Glasspockets as part the #RoadTo100 series, including a piece on funder relationships with indigenous communities and an interview with Maya Winkelstein, executive director of the Open Road Alliance.
• New blog posts on GrantCraft, including a piece on how one funder is working to support youth mental health and another on why this work is personal.
• Eighty-eight resources added to IssueLab, including Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector and a piece on paid leave laws from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

In the News

• Interview with Brad Smith, president, Candid, Denver Fredericks, Business of Giving
• New study on philanthropy’s role in producing safe, healthy and just societies, Alliance magazine
• The Mechanics Behind Re-Branding in Philanthropy, Richard Marker, Wise Philanthropy blog
• "Win Big With Big Data: A Nonprofit’s Guide to Data Analytics," Sandra Cyr, Philanthropy Journal News - NC State University
• "Honest Money: How a Powerful Non-Profit Aims to Promote Transparency," Becca Leviss, Tufts Observer
• Fresh Research Podcast: "Anatomy of a Mega Merger," Mark Hrywna, The NonProfit Times
• "Notes on Candid: The Merger of Foundation Center and GuideStar," Teri Behrens, PhD, Johnson Center at Grand Valley State University
• "Transparency Boosts Donations, Even for Struggling Charities, Study Finds," Alex Daniels, The Chronicle of Philanthropy

What We're Excited About

• Out in the community! On March 13, our San Francisco office kicked off a new series of monthly orientations at our nearby Funding Information Network partner location. The staff presentation at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library featured forty minutes of training, twenty minutes of Q&A, and an hour of one-on-one support for those who needed it, drawing a great crowd and generating rave reviews. Candid staff in San Francisco is excited to pilot this new program model, which among other things addresses how we can best partner with our Funding Information Network (FIN) partners in San Francisco (and beyond) in anticipation of our San Francisco library closing for good on June 30.
• What's that, you say? In 2019, Candid will start shifting its efforts from maintaining regional direct-service locations to focusing more on our 400+ FIN partner sites, which are located in communities across the U.S.as well as several countries. Through deeper and closer collaboration with our FIN partners, we hope to make our Social Sector Outreach services available far and wide — services that include the same great programming and access to tools and expertise you’ve come to expect at our regional locations. Please check out this interactive map to find a FIN location near you. And read the full announcement from VP of Social Sector Outreach Zohra Zori.
• We are working with Sustain Arts and See Chicago Dance on the first data-driven analysis of the Chicagoland dance sector since 2002.

Upcoming Conferences and Events

Our staff will be attending these upcoming events:

• AFP DC, March 20, Washington, DC
• netFWD's annual meeting, March 21-22, Paris, France
• AFP International Conference on Fundraising, March 31-April 2, San Antonio, Texas
• What Works Summit, April 1-3, Reykjavik, Iceland
• 2019 Global Philanthropy Forum, April 1-3, Redwood City, California
• Association of Black Foundation Executives conference, April 4-6, Detroit, Michigan
• Skoll World Forum, April 9-12, London, England
• International Civil Society Week, April 8-12, Belgrade, Serbia
• Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), April 10-12, Cleveland, Ohio
• Data Days, April 15, Cleveland, Ohio

Services Spotlight

• 252,817 new grants added to Foundation Maps in February, of which 5,762 were made to 4,251 organizations outside the U.S.
• Leverage insights from Foundation Directory Online to connect to funders: Connect Guide.
• 12 participants from the Bay Area and beyond participated in a three-day Proposal Writing Boot Camp. Check out all 2019 boot camp dates here.
• New data sharing partners: Aesop Foundation Australia, Colorado Plateau Foundation, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, InFaith Community Foundation, Kalliopeia Foundation, Klein Family Foundation, Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation, St Mary's Medical Center,Notah Begay III Foundation, Scriven Foundation, and the Steele-Reese Foundation. Tell your story through data so we can communicate philanthropy's contribution to making a better world! Learn more about our eReporting program.
• New customers: RoundUp APP, Tides Foundation, University of California, Santa Barbara, California State University, Los Angeles,F.B. Heron Foundation, Barr Foundation, Elevation Web, Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Data Spotlight

• In honor of Women's History Month, we are highlighting data centered around support for women and girls across our research:
  • Funding directed for women and girls made up 23 percent of all foundation funding for human rights, some $2.1 billion, between 2011-15. Over the course of those five years, funding for women and girls increased by 43 percent, representing the greatest share of funding targeted to a particular population group.
  • Of all international giving by U.S. foundations between 2011-15, 13.8 percent, or $4.8 billion, was targeted to women and girls. And while overall giving increased by 36 percent over the five-year period, funding targeted to women and girls increased 77 percent.
  • Between 2014-15, 13 percent of all funding from U.S. foundations directed to Latin America targeted women and girls, including a grant of $1.3 million over three years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to Mexico's National Institute of Public Health in support of research on the promotion of professional midwifery.

If you found this update helpful, feel free to share it or shoot us an email. I'll be back next month with another update.

Jen Bokoff is director of stakeholder engagement at Foundation Center.