Candid insights
The big picture of the social sector, backed by data and expertise
5 fundraising tips for 2021 giving season
For many nonprofits, 29% of annual donations happen between #GivingTuesday (November 30 this year) and December 31, and a shocking 11% of annual donations were reported to come in during the last three days of the year. In addition, many reports* show giving was at an all-time high in…
November 15, 2021
One foundation’s quest for better demographic data
We are in the midst of a timely and important discussion in philanthropy about increasing support to organizations led by people of color and women. However, many grantmakers like the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation have lacked access to the empirical…
November 11, 2021
Expanding the Network of Who We Listen To
In the Hewlett Foundation’s Knowledge for Better Philanthropy strategy, we fund the creation and dissemination of high-quality knowledge regarding philanthropic practice for foundations. We recently released an evaluation of the strategy entitled, How Funders Seek and Use Knowledge to Influence Philanthropic Practice. In…
November 10, 2021
New data for strategic disaster philanthropy
The COVID-19 pandemic has filled our newsfeeds, our schools, our politics, and our living rooms for two years. Our collective attention has been almost singularly focused on the pandemic and its global effects. For the next 700 words, I invite you to remember…
November 10, 2021
The story behind National Philanthropy Day
Most fundraisers and many other staff and volunteers in the nonprofit sector know about National Philanthropy Day (NPD) and enthusiastically embrace it. More than 130 Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) chapters celebrate the observance all across the United States and…
November 9, 2021
We will never know philanthropy’s full response to the COVID-19 crisis
In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis upended philanthropy. Confronted by a crisis that affected every sector, every place, and every community, funders recognized they could not go about business as usual. At Candid, we’ve been tracking philanthropy’s response. Based on the…
November 3, 2021
Quick tips for nonprofits seeking grants
One of the most common questions Candid’s team of expert librarians get on our Ask Us page is “how do I get a grant?” To help answer this question, we’ve created a short (two-minute) video with some quick tips for…
November 2, 2021
Partners in risk
Conversations about risk between funders and grantees are often difficult because few grant partners are on the same page about risk management, mitigation, and appetite. According to Pam Foster of Co-Impact, the most important thing funders and grantees can do…
October 28, 2021
Opening up on funder strategy: what to say, how, and when
Is there a more dreaded phrase for grantee ears than “funder strategy refresh?" In the best case, a funder strategy review will likely mean a limbo period in active grantmaking; worst case it can lead to a funder deciding to…
October 27, 2021
As COVID persists, New York’s youth need nonprofits now more than ever
This was not the "return-to-normal" back-to-school season many of us had hoped for. Remote learning and isolation for more than a year have left many students, especially the most vulnerable, behind. On average, K-12 students are now an estimated five…
October 22, 2021
Stretching gift amounts
In countless prospect identification meetings with professional and volunteer nonprofit leaders, invariably the subject of wealth and financial capacity is the immediate and dominant trigger of names. To be sure, financial capacity is a huge factor, but I would argue…
October 21, 2021
Introducing Candid’s U.S. Social Sector Dashboard, Chapter 1
What’s the story of the social sector? And perhaps more fundamentally, what is the social sector? In the United States, the social sector employs over 12 million people (roughly the combined populations of New York City and Los Angeles) and generates more than $3.7 trillion in aggregate annual revenue (a sum greater than President Biden’s $3.5…
October 20, 2021