Blog home Tips & Training Why Candid is *not* a watchdog

Why Candid is not a watchdog

Suzanne Coffman (she/her)
January 2, 2020

watchdog—noun. 1: a dog kept to guard property. 2: one that guards against loss, waste, theft, or undesirable practices.
—merriam-webster.com

You may see Candid referred to as a charity watchdog. We’re not. We don’t rate or evaluate nonprofits. Instead, we gather, organize, share, and derive insights from information about the social sector.

We do make every effort to ensure that the information we provide is trustworthy. For example:

Foundation Directory Online (FDO) incorporates data from IRS Forms 990 and 990-PF (annual reporting forms most tax-exempt organizations must file), grantmaker websites, annual reports, printed application guidelines, the philanthropic press, and various other sources.
Our GlassPockets Transparency Profiles contain information provided by the foundations themselves.
Nonprofit Profiles on GuideStar draw on official U.S. government documentation—such as the IRS Business Master File, 990s, Automatic Revocation of Exemption lists, and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) lists—as well as information directly from the organizations.

Although we may identify specific organizations in our Foundation Landscapes or on Philanthropy News Digest (PND), we don’t tell you that nonprofit A is better than nonprofit B, or that Funder C is preferable to Funder D.

Every philanthropic organization and donor has their own values that drive their giving. Our job is not to impose our values over yours. Instead, our mission is to get you the information you need to do good. You decide what defines good.

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About the author

Suzanne Coffman (she/her)

Editorial Director, Candid
See bio

As publisher of the Candid Blog and Candid Newsletter, Suzanne strives to give Candid’s stakeholders information to help them do good. As chief writing guru, grammar and style maven, and English usage referee, she works to help her colleagues communicate effectively.

Suzanne followed a circuitous route to Candid. Each stop enabled her to strengthen her research, writing, and editing abilities. Early in her career, she was a research assistant and then historian at the U.S. Department of State. She left this position to undertake doctoral work in American history. As part of her doctoral program, she received formal editorial training at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History. After completing her doctoral exams, she was assistant editor at the Papers of John Marshall. From there, she moved to the Publications Department of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where she served as associate editor and then editor/writer. In November 1999, she joined GuideStar, where she held a number of roles: web content coordinator, managing editor of the GuideStar website, director of communications, and editorial director. She retained the position of editorial director when GuideStar and Foundation Center joined forces in February 2019.

Suzanne holds an A.B. in English and history from The College of William and Mary and an M.A. in American Civilization from The George Washington University. She abandoned her doctoral dissertation after a computer crash ate some of her research and led her to reevaluate her career goals. It was the right decision, but she regrets it.

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