By: Ann Marie Megoulas, Information Service Supervisor
In April, Candid launched Candid search, its new unified search experience designed to simplify access to Candid’s data and resources.
What is Candid? Candid is a nonprofit organization that was formed in 2019 when Foundation Center (then the leading source of information about philanthropy) and GuideStar (premier directory of U.S. nonprofit organizations) merged. “Candid is where nonprofits find grants, donors find nonprofits that inspire them, and all can gain insights about the work being done for good.”
Since its founding in 2019, Candid continued to provide access to its data, research, and tools via two separate platforms, Foundation Directory Online (FDO) and GuideStar, while it worked on merging the data from both into one interface.
On April 21, 2026, Candid completed this work and released Candid search. Candid search brings together the best information, tools, and features from Foundation Directory Online and GuideStar into a single resource – one that’s enhanced with new data, A.I. powered tools, and improved functionality. Using Canid Search, nonprofits can identify potential funders more easily, and donors and funders can find the information they need to make strategic decisions about who to support more quickly.
Where can you find Candid search?
You can learn more about or subscribe (for a fee) to Candid at https://candid.org/.
Free access to Candid’s resources is available at community partner locations throughout the United States.
The Dauphin County Library System (or The Library) is one of these partner locations, and free onsite access is available at all eight of The Library’s locations.
To make it easy for you to access Candid search when you come into The Library, we placed links to it on all our adult public computers and on the dedicated Grants Information Center computer at the East Shore Area Library. You can also access Candid search using personal devices by connecting them to The Library’s Wi-Fi and entering a staff-provided designated logon address. For more information, visit https://www.dcls.org/services/ and scroll down to the Grants Information section.
To find other Candid partner locations, visit https://candid.org/resources/candid-near-you/ .
What is in Candid search?
- Over 1.9 million Candid nonprofit profiles
- More than 304,000 grantmaker profiles
- Information on 29 million+ nonprofit grants
- Candid’s research and reports
- Links to Candid Learning and the helpful guidance it offers on creating nonprofits, fundraising, writing proposals, and more.
Where can you learn more about using the new Candid search interface?
To help you get started, Candid created a few short instructional videos and articles that cover the basics. Candid conveniently embedded its brief “Getting Started with Candid search” video right on the Candid search home page. Just scroll down until you find it.
More comprehensive videos and tutorials are available at Candid Learning, Candid’s website, offering training, videos, help documents, and more. Unlike Candid search, which can only be accessed for free inside partner locations, Candid learning is available anywhere, anytime you need it. To learn more, click here.
Whether you are an experienced user of Foundation Directory Online and/or GuideStar or are learning about Candid for the first time in this article, I encourage you to stop by one of The Library’s locations soon and give the new Candid search platform a try.