Balancing transparency and data protection

Candid exists to provide the nonprofit sector with the data it needs to do good. Transparency was the reason our legacy organizations, Foundation Center and GuideStar, were created decades ago—and it continues to be at the heart of Candid’s work today. We believe that sharing good data supports funders, nonprofits, and others in achieving their missions and that transparency enables the sector to thrive by building trust.  

Alas, data sharing and transparency has recently become more fraught in the current political climate. Some are questioning the wisdom of sharing data publicly, while others believe it is more important than ever to do so. As a nonprofit serving other nonprofits, we feel a particular responsibility to be good stewards of the data we collect and to communicate clearly how we’re approaching these questions. Here are three important things to know: 

Candid only collects data intended to be public 

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been asked about our data privacy policies for our organizational profiles. To be clear, the vast majority of Candid’s data comes from public sources, including IRS Forms 990, organizations’ websites, and news articles. In addition, more than 100,000 organizations share their data directly on their Candid profile to tell their stories, and hundreds of funders contribute their grants data to us with the understanding that it will be widely shared. In fact, Candid’s wide reach is one of the main reasons organizations are motivated to share data with us. The data nonprofits share reaches thousands of funders and donors through Candid profiles and our network of partners, including donation platforms and donor-advised funds. 

Given the current context, we’re taking steps to ensure organizations understand how the data they contribute to Candid is used. First, we make it clear to organizations—before they update or edit their Candid profile—that their data will be publicly available and require their consent to move forward. We also clearly communicate this in our trainings and other profile-related materials.  

Organizations should assess the risks of data sharing 

Candid knows data can also be used to do harm. That’s why we’ve taken multiple steps to prevent the misuse of data intended to serve the public good (see below). At the same time, we strongly believe organizations themselves should make decisions about what data is sensitive. We know there will be significant differences in how individual organizations assess the level of risk associated with sharing information. For this reason, we generally will not proactively remove data from public view. 

This is not to say Candid does not have a role to play in protecting data. We do. Here’s what that looks like:  

We acknowledge that some data is more sensitive than others, particularly personal information like staff demographics. In such instances, we offer “Decline to state” as a valid option so organizations don’t need to disclose details they prefer to keep private in order to earn a Seal of Transparency. Sometimes data becomes sensitive due to changes in the external environment. If an organization reaches out to us with a security or privacy concern about specific data in their profile, we’ll remove it without delay. In rare circumstances, Candid may decide to proactively remove data if we feel it exposes people’s lives to credible risk. And specifically for funders, we’ve provided guidance on how they can balance transparency and data protection, and we offer tips in the FAQs section of our grants data sharing page.  

Organizations have ownership of contributed data 

At Candid, organizations are the owners of the data they contribute voluntarily. So, in addition to the ability to remove data or request that we do so, we now offer organizations the option to suppress all the data they’ve contributed from public view. Nonprofits claiming or editing their profiles will see this option when they log into their profile editor. This gives nonprofits a way to quickly remove data from public view—without losing it. While the data is suppressed, it will not appear in Candid’s products or be shared with any third parties. Once they’re ready to do so, nonprofits can easily restore their profile. Even when data is suppressed, it still exists in Candid’s data systems. During that time, data points may still be used anonymously for aggregate research and statistics about the sector to shed light on key trends and provide context to our collective work. 

Candid and our legacy organizations have long had to navigate moments when circumstances called into question the wisdom of advancing transparency and data sharing. Today, our response to these situations is guided by three principles. First, inform: make sure organizations know their data is public, understand how it will be used, and have the guidance they need to make informed decisions about their data. Second, offer choice: give organizations the option not to share data that may be sensitive—without penalty. And finally, give control: allow organizations to remove or suppress their contributed data and decide whether it can be shared more widely.