Candid at an inflection point

Five years ago, when I was approached about the CEO role at Candid, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. While most people who are drawn to mission-driven work focus on a particular cause or issue, as an engineer at heart, I’ve always wanted to make the whole system work better. This was a rare chance to do just that.

You see, Candid has the most comprehensive data about the social sector. Candid’s data informs critical decisions for organizations, enables nonprofits and funders around any issue to better coordinate and collaborate, and can help drive better data practices. It was an incredible opportunity to help the entire sector be more efficient, effective, and equitable.

How far we’ve come together

When I joined Candid, the organization was still in its infancy, having been recently created through the merger of GuideStar and Foundation Center. To realize the full potential of this combined entity, we worked to drive broader changes in best practices using data. This effort included “Data1x,” a vision to enable nonprofits to provide data about themselves once, to be shared by funders (think common grant application). Under this umbrella, we launched Demographics via Candid, bringing almost 200 funders together to standardize the way they collect demographic data about grantees. It’s only the tip of the iceberg for what I believe is possible.

Mergers are hard, and ours was no exception. By far the biggest challenge has been integrating our legacy products—first, so our users can easily access all Candid’s data in one place, and second, so we would have one cohesive and comprehensive data foundation on which to build new and innovative products. We were fortunate to receive a substantial grant from MacKenzie Scott that helped fund a big chunk of this undertaking, but it wasn’t easy. We had to contend with ensuring our different legacy products were compatible, understanding nuanced functionality accumulated over a decade, and the inevitable delays associated with any project of this complexity. That work culminated in January, when we launched our new unified, flagship product, Candid search.

The challenges and opportunities ahead

In the interim, the world has changed dramatically. From a political standpoint, the sector has been reeling from a combination of federal funding cuts, a backlash on equity initiatives, and heightened scrutiny that has caused some to pull back from their commitment to transparency. For Candid, from a technology standpoint, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has revolutionized how data is used, how products are built, and how people seek answers to their questions.

For all these reasons, this is a pivotal moment for Candid. As I retire and pass the baton to our interim president and CEO, John Brothers, I’ve been reflecting on both the challenges and opportunities ahead. In many ways, Candid is facing a classic case of the innovator’s dilemma, where a successful decades-old institution faces disruption from new technology advances (think Blockbuster or Kodak). Candid has the brand recognition and trust, a strong revenue stream to invest in research and development, existing customer and partner relationships, and deep expertise in the nuances of the data. But we have to compete with new entrants that have no legacy compatibility issues, lower cost structures, and the ability to move quickly.

This isn’t going to be easy, but, honestly, I’d still rather be us than anyone else. Here’s why.

Becoming a ‘data first’ organization

Two years ago, as the potential for generative AI became clear, we started to pivot our strategy to be a “data first” organization. What makes us unique is the quality, comprehensiveness, robustness, and timeliness of Candid’s data. AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on. While AI can make it easier to gain insights from data, it can’t replicate the virtuous cycle of nonprofits and foundations contributing data, surfacing that data through major giving platforms, and thus encouraging even more organizations to share their data. The sector also needs the expertise Candid has in wrangling with messy data from Forms 990 to clean, dedupe, and classify it so that it can be easily discovered, aggregated, and used to do good.  

Going forward, Candid will play an even more critical role by meeting users wherever they are with the best data possible, powering the social sector—nonprofits, grantmakers, donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries. 

To prepare for this next chapter, we restructured earlier this year to align our organization and talent with the investments needed to deliver on our promise to the sector. We’ve also completely reimagined our approach to product development, with cross-functional empowered teams that are user-centric and highly iterative, so we can continually adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. And we’re embracing the power of AI, both in accelerating our work internally and amplifying what we can offer users externally. I believe we have everything we need to navigate the current disruptions and emerge even stronger (as Netflix did with their pivot to digital delivery). To do so, our biggest challenge will be to continue to be nimble as an organization so we can continually adapt to a more and more rapidly changing landscape. 

It’s been a true honor and privilege to serve as president and CEO of Candid, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this incredible team does next.