What are the sources of data for Candid’s products? 

Candid’s goal is to provide users of our products with the most accurate, comprehensive and timely information possible about nonprofits and funders in the United States and around the world. This includes information about organizations’ programs, staff, financials, grantmaking or other types of funding, and more.  

To do this, we compile data from a number of sources (detailed below). Data from these disparate sources are cleaned, harmonized, and then coded according to our Philanthropy Classification System (PCS) so that they are easy to use. 

This page will be continuously updated as we add new sources of data to our databases.  

Sources of data on U.S. nonprofits and funders include: 

• IRS information returns (Forms 990 and 990PF) 
• IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (BMF)
• Individual funders who choose to share information about their organizations and/or grantmaking with Candid directly 
• Nonprofts who choose to share information about their organizations with Candid directly 
• Organization websites 
• News and press releases 

Sources of data on nonprofits and funders outside the United States include:

• Government agencies, such as charity commissions, which release open data about the charitable sector or other philanthropic actors in their countries 
• Individual funders who choose to share information about their organization and/or grantmaking with Candid directly 
• Organization websites 
• News and press releases 
• Partnerships with funder networks or our counterparts in other countries 

Details on specific sources by country are provided below: 

Australia 

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) data originally licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia  

Canada 

Canada Revenue Agency data on registered charities  

India 

• National CSR Data Portal, Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs 
• Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, for data on foreign contributions to Indian nonprofit organizations 

Mexico 

Alternativas y Capacidades (partner), via their Fondos a la Vista initiative 

United Kingdom 

• Charity Commission of England and Wales data originally licensed under Open Government Licence 3.0 (United Kingdom) 
• 360Giving: A significant portion of our data on grantmaking by UK funders comes from funders who publish to the 360Giving standard. 360Giving supports organizations to publish their grants data in an open, standardized way and helps people to understand and use the data in order to support decision-making and learning across the charitable giving sector. Candid processes data from funders who have published their data under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, a Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence 1.0, or an Open Government Licence 3.0 (United Kingdom) 

Sources of data on government spending in the United States and other countries include: 

• USASpending.gov, the official source of accessible, searchable and reliable spending data for the U.S. government 
• OECD "Creditor Reporting System: Aid activities," OECD International Development Statistics database for information on bilateral and multilateral official development assistance