In a world where it can be extraordinarily difficult to figure out where organizations are getting their money from or what they are spending it on, one service exists that helps nonprofit organizations be more, well, candid. The Candid platform, which is available for in-library use at any of the Mercer County Library System branches, is the prime destination for information about nonprofits’ financial information, programs, boards of directors, and grants received and distributed.
A few things to note before we go forward talking about nonprofits:
• Nonprofit, in this case, refers to an organization that is classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. These organizations are tax-exempt, must not serve any private interests, and must fit at least one of the charitable purposes designated by the IRS. They also can’t engage in much political activity, especially lobbying, but that is a discussion for another day. If you’re interested in the exact language used to determine what a 501(c)(3) must do and be, you can read about it in IRS Publication 557.
• Nonprofit does not mean the organization is not allowed to make money. This is a very common misconception. The difference between a nonprofit making money versus a regular corporation is the nonprofit must use those funds towards its mission.
• Nonprofits get their funds from a variety of sources, including donations from individuals, grants from federal, state, and local governments, the charitable giving arm of corporations, interest from their investments, fees for service, endowments, special events like galas, and more. A stable organization is one that has several unique funding streams.
• When looking at a nonprofit’s financial reports, it is important to remember that the numbers year by year probably will not be consistent. There are several factors that can be very difficult to plan for because they are not in the organization’s control; such as federal government policy on which initiatives can receive funding, how many people utilize a nonprofit’s services that year, whether long-term funders decide to keep giving them money or not, and when someone leaves them an endowment.
• If you aren’t able to access Candid but want to find out about a nonprofit’s financials, their 990 from (more on those later) is publicly available on the IRS website. You can search for specific organizations at https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/
Now that we have some of the basics established, we can look at what information Candid can provide to you, and how that can paint a really interesting picture of an organization that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to glean from their website. I’m going to use Hightstown-based Rise as my example, since they have a lot of good information on their profile. Organizations must submit this information to Candid, so not all pages are going to be as full of details as Rise’s.
When you first enter the Candid database from the MCLS website, you’ll see the option to search for an organization by name or look at a list of local organizations.
Depending on the name of the organization, you may have to add a bit more information for it to come up in the search. In this case, I had to include part of the location. As you can see, sometimes organizations also have different names on the back end that differ from the public-facing one. Pay attention to the location of the organization and their logo if you’re having trouble figuring out if the search is giving you the correct one.
When you select a specific organization from the search, you’ll see a quick summary of their official name, anything they were formerly known as, the “doing business as” name, and their transparency seal, if they have one. There are four levels of seals Candid gives out, with bronze being the lowest and platinum being the highest. The different tiers are awarded based on how much information they provide beyond the required pieces submitted to the Candid database. Not having a seal doesn’t mean an organization is bad or untrustworthy.
The summary gives us some quick facts, including the mission. It is incredibly important for a nonprofit to have a mission, as the unifying ideals of what their money goes towards and what kinds of programs they want to create and host. The EIN, or Employer Identification Number, is useful for searches since each organization has a unique number. Sometimes organizations will have that EIN listed on their website, often at the bottom of the page.
The Programs tab tells us more about what the organization actually does to work towards their mission statement. Sometimes all the activities are listed as one program, but Rise has them separated into five different programs.
If the organization has submitted statistics about their programs, they may also be listed. Rise has submitted them for their five programs, giving an idea of the impact over three years. You want to pay attention to the axes on these charts, as sometimes the years are arranged a bit differently on each.
The Grants tab is the most interesting, at least to me, because it shows who is giving out money to local organizations. The process of obtaining grants is difficult to say the least, so a diverse array of grants could indicate that an organization employs the services of a talented grant writer. Organizations that have given grants and also have Candid profiles are listed, making it easy to find out more about those organizations as well.
If you’re someone who likes to support organizations that work towards specific goals, Candid has you covered by listing in the Impact section which
UN Sustainable Development Goals an organization is working towards. Clearly, Rise is covering a lot of ground! This tab also has the goals and strategies listed- what is an organization trying to accomplish and what are the concrete steps they are taking ?
The People tab is interesting not just because it tells you about the main staff of an organization, but because it lists the members of the Board of Directors as well. 501(c)(3)s must have a Board who serves as the governing body of the organization and provides financial oversight, hires the CEO, and keeps the organization in line with legal and ethical standards. Many organizations have boards composed of mostly or entirely volunteers.
- Anthony, Social Work
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