Candid’s Regional Teams: An Update

This year has been a busy one for Candid. In February, Candid was formed as the result of a combination of Foundation Center and GuideStar. One of our most important initiatives of the year has been the transition from four Candid regional library centers to our 400+ Funding Information Network (FIN) partner locations.

Candid’s staff in the Bay Area is now all under one roof, after Foundation Center staff moved in to the existing GuideStar office in Oakland. In Atlanta, Candid’s team has partnered with CARE by moving into that organization’s Global Innovation Hub along with several other social entrepreneurs, technologists, and internationally-oriented nonprofit organizations.

In the next two months, Candid’s Washington, D.C., team will share space in our existing office on H Street, while staff in the Cleveland area will move into Midtown TechHive, a co-working space located along Cleveland’s Health-Tech corridor.

Why is Candid transitioning its library services?

In July, I wrote about what this initiative means for the communities we serve. Our transition away from providing direct in-person library services at our four regional offices will free up our teams to engage directly with audiences beyond our four walls.

Taking our D.C. metro area location as an example: currently three of our FIN partners are located within a ten-mile radius of our current location, and all three are Metro accessible. Our D.C. team plans to offer three to five classes per month locally, at various locations, and also plans on holding monthly training events at the University of the District of Columbia. Our largest office and library in New York City will continue to operate in its current form, providing library services and trainings on-site while also delivering programs across the region.

We'll also begin experimenting with local programming close to Williamsburg, Virginia, where a large contingent of Candid team members are based. Check the local calendar on grantspace.org for upcoming community events and to use our map tool to find partners near you.

Programming highlights from our regional teams

Our regional teams have been busy planning local events and partnering with organizations on the ground to deliver relevant, meaningful programs. Here are some of the highlights:

• Candid is currently a lead partner in “The Soul of Philanthropy” exhibition in Cleveland. The three-month traveling exhibit officially opened on Friday, September 6, with over three hundred and fifty philanthropists, foundation executives, civic and business leaders, and community members in attendance. It was a magnificent celebration dedicated to uplifting and amplifying the power of black philanthropy. This is just one of several media stories about the exhibit, and you can learn more in this blog post.
• A one-day Training Works conference was hosted in Atlanta by Candid staff on September 20, with nearly forty attendees on-site at the CARE Global Innovation Hub.
• Network Days, Candid’s annual convening for Funding Information Network members, was held in New York City on October 10 and 11. More than sixty partners traveled to the city to attend in person, while another hundred and sixty tuned in virtually for sessions covering such topics as Candid’s Nonprofit Start Up Assessment Tool, best practices to help nonprofits secure funding through donor-advised funds, and why it’s critical for nonprofits to earn a Seal of Transparency from GuideStar.org. We also hosted an intensive train-the-trainer event earlier in the week, guiding partners and staff through a deep capacity-building experience designed to equip them to deliver high-quality programming through a culturally responsive and human-centered lens. It was an enlightening and energizing week that showcased just how central the Funding Information Network is to Candid’s mission and to hundreds of local communities.
• Candid staff presented a program at the end of August that explored  a California legislative proposal to regulate donor-advised funds. Ninety-four people participated in person in San Francisco, while another ninety-one tuned in to the livestream.
• Candid also hosted its second annual program with the authors of Unicorns Unite — Vu Le, Jane Leu, and Jessamyn Shams-Lau — on September 18. The program included an in-person and livestreamed panel discussion, followed by a facilitated in-person exercise with the authors in San Francisco, plus eighteen watch parties across North America.
• Due to popular demand, we increased our monthly course offerings of Introduction to FDO to twice a month at the San Francisco Public Library, one of our Bay Area FIN partners.
• Working with the New York City Department of Education, Candid will present Introduction to Fundraising Planning to approximately one hundred public school art teachers at our New York library location. The sessions also will introduce teachers to Candid's library resources and provide them with hands-on experience searching Foundation Directory Online for public education and arts grants.

Whom can I contact if I have more questions?

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our team members with questions or ideas:

Western region: Michele Ragland Dilworth
Northeastern region: Kim Buckner Patton
Southern region: Maria Azuri
Midwestern region: Teleangé Thomas

We are thrilled by the opportunity this new operating model presents and are looking forward to meeting with more of you across the United States. As always, you can connect with me directly to talk about how we can serve you better.

Zohra Zori is vice president of social sector outreach at Candid.

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