Prepopulate your grant application

Overview

As a field, we are amid a timely and important conversation about reducing grantee burden in the grant application process. Calls for common applications and efforts like #FixTheForm show that foundations often ask similar questions when they assess potential grantees. Candid’s GuideStar profile aligns with these information needs, and our API provides a solution to automatically prepopulate grant applications.

Candid provides information and data that is commonly used to understand a nonprofit holistically, from financials to program areas to results. Our database includes data on more than 1.8 million active nonprofits, and our APIs support the transfer of this data into other systems in real-time. This data can be used to prepopulate grant applications so that you can:

Ask fewer questions on your grant application and reports
Align your questions to be consistent with funding peers
Adopt best practices in normalizing data on organizations

By using Candid's APIs in the grant application process, you're not only getting better information for your own organization, you are also reducing the burden on nonprofits, who won't need to submit the same information for each grant they apply for. The more funders make use of this existing information, the larger the benefits to nonprofits, enabling networks of scale.

Solutions for funders and grant management software

Applicant experience

Allow the applicant to enter their EIN, or use the EIN associated with their login (if applicable).
Display the grant application plugin button that triggers a call to our Premier API v3. Automatically prepopulate the form with the appropriate fields.
Allow the applicant to review and update the information, if needed.

Funder experience

Allow the funder to design the grant application and select the desired fields.
Use the table below to determine which fields to make available to allow funders the option to simplify the grant application experience.

Fields commonly used in grant applications

Below, you’ll find the organizational data you can use in your grant applications. This data is available in Premier API.

Organization and contact information

These fields are used to retrieve basic information about the nonprofit and who to contact for fundraising.

Premier API Field	Example	Description
`ein`	13-1837418	Employee identification number
`organization_name`	Candid	Organization name
`gs_profile_update_level`	Platinum 2024	GuideStar Seal of Transparency level
`address_line_1`	32 Old Slip	Organization address street name
`address_line_2`	24th Floor	Organization address suite or apartment number
`city`	New York	Organization address city
`state`	NY	Organization address state
`zip`	10005	Organization address zip code
`county`	New York	Organization address county
`govt_registered_name`	Candid	Legal organization name
`website_url`	candid.org	Organization website URL
`year_founded`	1956	Year that an organization was founded
`fundraising_contact_name`	Kate Sweeney	Name of primary fundraising contact
`fundraising_contact_title`	Senior Director of Development	Title of primary fundraising contact
`fundraising_contact_email`	[email protected]	Email address of primary fundraising contact
`fundraising_contact_phone`	212 620-4230	Phone number of primary fundraising contact

Mission, subject areas and populations served

These fields generally describe what the organization supports, listed using Candid's Taxonomy, NTEE, and SDG codes.

Premier API Field	Example	Description
`mission`	Candid's mission is to get you the information you need to do good.	Organization mission statement
`pcs_codes` > `pcs_facet`	Population	PCS facet name
`pcs_codes` > `pcs_description`	Adults	PCS code description
`ntee_code`	T50 - Philanthropy / Charity / Voluntarism Promotion (General)	National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) Code
`sdg` > `id`	17	UN sustainable development goal number
`sdg` > `description`	Partnerships for the Goals	UN sustainable development goal description

Programs and impact measurements

These fields are used to understand an organization's programs and the impact an organization has on its population served. These fields are available in an array when multiple programs and impact measurements are reported by the nonprofit to Candid.

Premier API Field	Example	Description
`Programs` > `name`	Common profile	Program name
`Programs` > `description`	Goal: Establish common profiles with key information on social sector organizations to optimize transparency and reduce redundancy. The social sector is fragmented, leaving individual organizations culturally and operationally isolated. Through a common profile we can increase the throughput of basic organizational information, reduce waste, reveal diversity, and build shared identity...	Program description
`Programs` > `target_population`	General/Unspecified	First target population that the program is targeting
`Programs` > `target_population2`		Second target population that the program is targeting
`Programs` > `areas_served`	Global	Name of the geographic area served by the program
`PlatinumMetrics` > `metric`	Number of organizations who share enough information to earn a Seal of Transparency on GuideStar	Metric name
`PlatinumMetrics` > `years`	2022, 84301.0; 2023, 96305.0	The years this metric was captured and the values for a given year
`PlatinumMetrics` > `type_of_metric`	Output - describing our activities and reach	How this metric is being measured
`PlatinumMetrics` > `direction_of_success`	Increasing	How to determine if this metric is showing a successful trend

Subsection and tax-exempt status

These fields can be used to understand tax-exempt status.

Premier API Field	Example	Description
`subsection_code`	03	Subsection Codes are the codes shown under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, which define the category under which an organization may be exempt
`subsection_description`	501(c)(3) Public Charity	Description of organization subsection code
`affiliation_code`	3	Single digit code designating the type of organization. If there is no group exemption, will be one of (Central, Intermediate, or Independent); if there is a group exemption, will be one of (Central, Intermediate, Independent, or Subordinate).This code is used if the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e. not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations)
`affiliation_description`	This code is used if the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations).	Description of what the affiliation code means
`deductibility_code`	1	Signifies whether contributions made to an organization are deductible
`deductibility_description`	Contributions are deductible, as provided by law	Deductibility code description
`parent_organizations` > `EIN`	53-0196617	Array of EINs of parent organizations
`parent_organizations` > `organization_name`	UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS	Array of names of parent organizations
`parent_organizations` > `group_exemption`	0928	Four-digit internal number assigned to parent organizations holding group exemption letters.
`letter_of_determination_doc_name`	Candid IRS Letter of Determination	Document name of the letter of determination
`letter_of_determination_url`	https://www.guidestar.org/ViewEdoc.aspx?eDocId=10856016&approved=True	URL to the letter of determination

Financials

These fields are used to understand the general financial health of an organization. There are many more financial fields present in the Premier API including Part VIII, IX, X of the Form 990 and a financial trends analysis. There is also a PDF view of the financial trends available at Premier Financial Trends Analysis PDF API.

Premier API Field	Example	Description
`fiscal_year`	2023	The most recent fiscal year of all financials on file
`form_type`	F990	The IRS 990 form type used in this financial data
`data_source`	IRS Form 990	Source of current financial information
`assets_total`	100177752.0	Total monetary amount of assets, in USD
`total_revenue`	43212468.0	Total revenue, in USD
`expenses_total`	36022947.0	Total expenses, in USD
`financial_statements` > `doc_name`	2023 Candid Audit Report	The name of the financial document
`financial_statements` > `document_url`	<https://www.guidestar.org/ViewEdoc.aspx?eDocId=7185348&approved=True>	The URL of the financial document
`financial_statements` > `fiscal_year_end`	2023	The fiscal year end of the financial document

Board of directors

These fields can be used to pull in the board of directors.

Premier API Field	Example	Description
`board_chair_name`	Melissa Berman	Name of the board chair
`board_chair_affiliation`	Rockfeller Philanthropy Advisors	Company board chair is associated with
`board_chair_term_start`	2024	Start year of board chair term
`board_of_directors` > `name`	Ana Marie Argilagos	Array of board of directors' names
`board_of_directors` > `company`	HIP-Hispanics in Philanthropy	Array of board of directors' companies

Demographics

We include the answers to the following demographic questions for each participating organization:

Race & Ethnicity
Gender Identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual Orientation
Disability Status

We include the answers for these staff and groups at the organization:

Leader/ Co-Leader
Board Members
Senior Staff
Staff

See the Demographic data for grantmaking user guide for more information.