Answers to your most pressing social sector and nonprofit questions.
Please be aware that fiscal sponsorship policies and guidelines are unique to each fiscal sponsor and project. Still, you may find it helpful to see what issues are typically addressed...
Candid's online job board features current full-time job openings at U.S. foundations, grantmaking public charities, and other nonprofit organizations. Try looking at some of these job postings to get a...
Nonprofits have different budgets for different needs. Given our focus on foundation grants, most of Candid's budget resources are for proposal budgets. You can also find information here about other...
Corporate sponsorship is defined as "a form of advertising in which companies pay to be associated with certain events," according to Inc magazine. Remember that unlike grants, sponsorships are awarded as much...
Candid does not give grants/donations, suggest specific funders, or approach them on your behalf. More about Candid’s mission. Please refer to the tips and websites in this article. **For emergency...
Demographic information can help your nonprofit to better identify your community's needs and to find gaps in its services. Using this data in a grant proposal can help make a...
Some grantseekers ask if there is a single application form they can fill out and submit to multiple funders, saving the time and effort required to create customized proposals for...
Identifying and learning from best practices helps organizations create frameworks for more efficient and effective programs and operations. While the NGO landscape is vast -- it encompasses a diverse array...
The IRS requires all U.S. tax-exempt nonprofits to make public their three most recent Form 990 or 990-PF annual returns (commonly called "990s") and all related supporting documents. They must...
Few, if any, glossaries list all nonprofit terms. Foundation Directory has its own taxonomy of words and phrases. You can use the Philanthropy Classification System to find the meaning...
If you have a legal or tax-related question, the Candid Support Team might be able to point you to resources for informational purposes only, but we cannot give specific legal...
Both contingency and scenario planning are structured ways for organizations to think about the future. Although the terms sometimes are used interchangeably, contingency planning is a specific type of scenario...
When funders ask for a letter of inquiry (LOI), they want a few pages that will make them excited about giving you a grant. Some foundations will then invite you...
Scholarship grants change the lives of their grantees by providing access to education, resources, and powerful networks. Some scholarship funds also leverage their programs to impact society in a broader...
There's an old saying in the nonprofit world, "If you've seen one foundation, you've seen....one foundation." Foundations vary so widely that there's virtually no research on the question of what...
Every April, Independent Sector publishes an estimated national value of each volunteer hour. This page includes historical national data and the value of volunteers’ contribution by state or territory. For...
In February 2019, Foundation Center and GuideStar joined forces to become Candid, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Together, these two organizations bring a combined 88 years of expertise and millions of data points to...
The only substantive difference between the two is the manner in which funds are acquired. A private foundation is a nonprofit charitable entity, which is generally created by a single...
Corporations provide support to nonprofits through direct-giving programs, private foundations, and/or public charities. This can sometimes be a source of confusion for grantseekers. Here are some of the elements that...
One of the key responsibilities of a nonprofit board is to ensure that the organization has enough resources to fulfill its mission. Thus, board members are often encouraged, even required,...
The public support test is a provision of IRS tax code that requires most public charities to meet to maintain their tax-exempt status. The test ensures that a nonprofit’s income...
According to the TCC Group, strategic planning is: "a tool for transforming and revitalizing corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations....A successful strategic planning process will examine and make informed projections...
Social enterprise, also known as social entrepreneurship, broadly encompasses ventures of nonprofits, civic-minded individuals, and for-profit businesses that can yield both financial and social returns. One example of social enterprise...
According to the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, risk management is defined as follows: [...] a discipline for dealing with the possibility that some future event will cause harm. It provides...
Exempt organizations must file a tax return called a Form 990 with the IRS each year to comply with federal regulations. There are several versions of Form 990: public charities...
Instead of starting your own nonprofit, you can work with an existing 501(c)(3) public charity under a formal arrangement known as fiscal sponsorship. You can ask for grants and tax-deductible...
Simply put, earned income is revenue generated from the sale of goods, services rendered, or work performed. One popular nonprofit example is Girl Scout cookie sales. If you have ever...
Crowdfunding is a way to raise funds for a specific cause or project by asking a large number of people to donate money, usually in small amounts, and usually during...
What is CFRE? CFRE stands for Certified Fund Raising Executive, an internationally recognized certification in the fundraising field administered by CFRE International. To receive--and maintain--accreditation, fundraising professionals must earn continuing...
Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a mutually beneficial collaboration between a corporation and a nonprofit designed to promote the former's sales and the latter's cause. American Express first coined the term...