Organizational demographic data
To better understand the demographic identities of those working in the nonprofit sector and reduce the reporting burden on nonprofits, Candid collects and shares demographic data about staff and board members from a growing number of U.S. nonprofits and foundations.
This data is accessible in the Premier API and Demographics API.
Data collection
Nonprofits are eligible to submit demographic data about their staff and board via their Candid profile. This overview describes how nonprofits can get started in sharing their demographic data. See here for Candid’s official guidance for nonprofits on how to collect demographic data from their staff and here for guidance on how to share this data with Candid through an organization’s profile.
Organizations are encouraged to update their demographic data on an annual basis, and demographic data represents organizations’ most recent demographic data.
Demographic data
Candid invites organizations to share information about each of the following demographic categories:
- Race & Ethnicity
- Gender Identity
- Transgender Identity
- Sexual Orientation
- Disability Status
Data for the above categories is collected at the following staffing levels:
- Leader/ Co-Leader
- Board Members
- Senior Staff
- Staff
Nonprofits are asked to report individual level data for leaders and co-leaders (e.g., CEO’s race, gender, etc.), and aggregate demographic information for other staffing levels (e.g., 4 Black board members, 5 white board members, 2 Asian board members). Organizations can share information for some or all of these categories and staffing levels.
Whether or not an organization has shared demographic information will be flagged in the demographics_status field. If the organization has not shared any information, the message "This organization has not provided Candid Demographics Data" will be displayed. If the organization has shared demographic information, the message "This organization has provided Candid Demographics Data" will be displayed.
The date that demographic information was last changed is available in thedate_last_modifiedfield.
Data structure
staff_level_totals: object containing the total number of individuals within each personnel group at the organizationtotal_board_members: number of individuals on the boardtotal_staff: number of individuals who work at the organization, including senior staff, leader, and co-leadertotal_senior_staff: number of senior staff (C-suite or management with budgetary oversight) who work at the organization, including the leader and co-leader
categories: array containing demographic information objectscategory: represents the type of demographic information contained within the object. See below for possible values.board_members_not_collected,staff_not_collected,senior_staff_not_collected: boolean (true/false) fields under category represent that the organization did not provide information for this category for the specified groupsubcategories: array containing detailed objects related to the category.Subcategory: represents the answers to the question's category for the groups working at the organization. See below for possible values.board_members,staff,senior_staff: represent the total number of individuals in each group at the organization who identify within the subcategoryreported_by_ceoandreported_by_coceo: boolean (true/false) fields which indicate if the organization’s leader and co-leader identify within the subcategory. If not applicable, this field is null.
Below is a sample response from the Demographics API:
{
"code": 200,
"message": "Request was processed successfully!",
"took": 514,
"errors": [],
"data": {
"summary": {
"organization_name": "Candid",
"ein": "13-1837418",
"city": "New York City",
"state": "NY",
"demographics_status": "This organization has provided Candid Demographics Data",
"date_last_modified": "05/04/2023"
},
"demographics": {
"staff_level_totals": {
"total_board_members": "17",
"total_staff": "195",
"total_senior_staff": "8"
},
"categories": [
{
"category": "Race & Ethnicity",
"board_members_not_collected": false,
"staff_not_collected": false,
"senior_staff_not_collected": false,
"subcategories": [
{
"subcategory": "Asian/Asian American",
"board_members": 1,
"staff": 26,
"senior_staff": 4,
"reported_by_ceo": true,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Black/African American",
"board_members": 4,
"staff": 17,
"senior_staff": 1,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx",
"board_members": 0,
"staff": 13,
"senior_staff": 1,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Native American/American Indian/Alaska Native/Indigenous",
"board_members": 0,
"staff": 0,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "White/Caucasian/European",
"board_members": 8,
"staff": 90,
"senior_staff": 1,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Multi-Racial/Multi-Ethnic (2+ races/ethnicities)",
"board_members": 1,
"staff": 7,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Decline to state",
"board_members": null,
"staff": 11,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Unknown",
"board_members": 2,
"staff": 31,
"senior_staff": 1,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Middle Eastern/Northern African",
"board_members": 0,
"staff": null,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander",
"board_members": 0,
"staff": null,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
}
]
},
{
"category": "Race & Ethnicity Other",
"board_members_not_collected": false,
"staff_not_collected": false,
"senior_staff_not_collected": false,
"subcategories": [
{
"subcategory": "Other",
"board_members": 1,
"staff": null,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
}
]
},
{
"category": "Gender Identity",
"board_members_not_collected": false,
"staff_not_collected": false,
"senior_staff_not_collected": false,
"subcategories": [
{
"subcategory": "Female",
"board_members": 8,
"staff": 94,
"senior_staff": 3,
"reported_by_ceo": true,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Male",
"board_members": 7,
"staff": 57,
"senior_staff": 5,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Non-binary",
"board_members": null,
"staff": 6,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Decline to state",
"board_members": null,
"staff": 9,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Unknown",
"board_members": 2,
"staff": 29,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
}
]
},
{
"category": "Gender Identity 2",
"board_members_not_collected": false,
"staff_not_collected": false,
"senior_staff_not_collected": false,
"subcategories": [
{
"subcategory": "Transgender",
"board_members": 0,
"staff": 2,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Not transgender (cisgender)",
"board_members": 14,
"staff": 144,
"senior_staff": 8,
"reported_by_ceo": true,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Decline to state",
"board_members": 1,
"staff": 15,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Unknown",
"board_members": 2,
"staff": 34,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
}
]
},
{
"category": "Sexual Orientation",
"board_members_not_collected": false,
"staff_not_collected": false,
"senior_staff_not_collected": false,
"subcategories": [
{
"subcategory": "Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other sexual orientations in the LGBTQIA+ community",
"board_members": null,
"staff": 23,
"senior_staff": 2,
"reported_by_ceo": true,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Heterosexual or straight",
"board_members": 14,
"staff": 129,
"senior_staff": 6,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Decline to state",
"board_members": 1,
"staff": 14,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Unknown",
"board_members": 2,
"staff": 29,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
}
]
},
{
"category": "Disability Status",
"board_members_not_collected": false,
"staff_not_collected": false,
"senior_staff_not_collected": false,
"subcategories": [
{
"subcategory": "Person with a disability",
"board_members": null,
"staff": 21,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Person without a disability",
"board_members": 15,
"staff": 129,
"senior_staff": 8,
"reported_by_ceo": true,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Decline to state",
"board_members": null,
"staff": 12,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": false,
"reported_by_coceo": null
},
{
"subcategory": "Unknown",
"board_members": 2,
"staff": 33,
"senior_staff": null,
"reported_by_ceo": null,
"reported_by_coceo": null
}
]
}
]
}
}
}
Demographic categories and subcategories
Listed below are possible response values for the category and subcategory fields:
| Category | Subcategories | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Race & Ethnicity | - Asian/Asian American - Black/African American - Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx - Middle Eastern/North African - Native American/American Indian/Alaska Native/Indigenous - Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander - White/Caucasian/European - Multi-Racial/Multi-Ethnic (2+ races/ethnicities) - Decline to state - Unknown | |
| Race & Ethnicity Other | Write-in answers | Each subcategory represents a write-in answer to "Prefer to identify with another race." |
| Gender Identity | - Female - Male - Non-binary - Decline to state - Unknown | |
| Gender Identity 2 | - Transgender - Not transgender (cisgender) - Decline to state - Unknown | |
| Sexual orientation | - Heterosexual or straight - Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other sexual orientations in the LGBTQIA+ community - Decline to state - Unknown | |
| Disability Status | - Person with a disability - Person without a disability - Decline to state - Unknown |
Updated 26 days ago
For more information on how to use organizational demographic data for grantmaking, review this user guide: