Candid Seals of Transparency

1. Claim your profile: Visit GuideStar.org (now Candid) and search for your nonprofit. Claim your organization's profile using your EIN (Employer Identification Number).

1. Create a Candid account: Register for a free account as an authorized representative of your nonprofit (typically an executive director, board member, or staff member).

1. Complete basic information (Bronze): Fill in your organization's contact details, mission statement, and basic program descriptions to earn the Bronze Seal.

1. Add financial data (Silver): Upload or link your most recent IRS Form 990 and provide financial summary information to qualify for the Silver Seal.

1. Share qualitative information (Gold): Add details about your organization's goals, strategies, capabilities, and leadership to reach the Gold Seal level.

1. Report on results (Platinum): Provide metrics and evidence of progress toward your stated goals — including outcomes data — to earn the top-tier Platinum Seal.

1. Publish and promote: Once your profile is complete, your seal is automatically assigned and displayed on your Candid profile. Share it on your website, grant applications, and donor communications.

1. Update annually: Return each year to refresh your data and maintain your seal level, as seals expire if profile information becomes outdated.

The Candid Seals of Transparency are awarded based on the completeness and depth of information a nonprofit voluntarily self-reports in its Candid (GuideStar) profile. There is no external audit — the seal level is automatically assigned based on what the organization discloses.

Bronze Seal requires the most basic organizational information: legal name, contact details, mission statement, and program descriptions. This establishes a foundational public presence for the organization.

Silver Seal builds on Bronze by adding financial transparency. Organizations must provide financial data, typically by linking their IRS Form 990 or entering financial summary figures directly into the profile. This allows donors and funders to assess fiscal health.

Gold Seal requires qualitative organizational information beyond financials, including details about leadership and board composition, organizational strategies, key capabilities, and how the nonprofit plans to achieve its mission. This level signals operational maturity and strategic clarity.

Platinum Seal — the highest level — requires organizations to report on their actual results and impact. This includes metrics, outcome data, and evidence of progress toward stated goals. Platinum signals a commitment not just to transparency about inputs and plans, but to accountability for results.

The Candid Seals of Transparency are among the most widely recognized nonprofit credentialing signals in the United States. With over 100,000 organizations holding a seal and Candid's GuideStar database covering 1.8 million IRS-recognized tax-exempt organizations, the program has unmatched scale in the nonprofit transparency space. Candid itself was formed in 2019 through the merger of GuideStar and Foundation Center, two of the most authoritative names in U.S. philanthropy data, which significantly strengthened the program's institutional credibility.

The seals are deeply embedded in the philanthropic ecosystem. Major donor-advised fund platforms (Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable), large foundations (Gates, Ford), and corporate giving programs routinely reference Candid profiles when evaluating grant applicants. Many grant applications explicitly ask whether an organization holds a GuideStar/Candid seal, making it a de facto requirement for competitive fundraising in many segments of the sector. The program's zero-cost model removes barriers for small and emerging nonprofits, which is a key differentiator from paid accreditation programs.

Competing signals like Charity Navigator's star ratings and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance seal occupy adjacent but distinct niches — Charity Navigator focuses on financial health scoring and accountability metrics, while the Candid seal is primarily a transparency and disclosure signal. The trend toward data-driven philanthropy and donor due diligence continues to increase the relevance of the Candid seal, particularly as institutional funders demand greater accountability from grantees. However, because the seals are entirely self-reported with no third-party verification, sophisticated donors and evaluators typically use them as a starting point rather than a definitive endorsement.

GuideStar was founded in 1994 by Art Taylor in Williamsburg, Virginia, with a mission to revolutionize philanthropy by providing free public access to information about U.S. nonprofit organizations. At a time when nonprofit financial data was largely inaccessible to the public, GuideStar began digitizing IRS Form 990 filings and making them searchable online — a groundbreaking development for donor transparency. The Seals of Transparency program was introduced later as a way to incentivize nonprofits to go beyond their 990 data and proactively share richer organizational information directly with the public.

Over the years, GuideStar expanded its seal tiers from a simple binary system to the current Bronze-Silver-Gold-Platinum framework, encouraging progressively deeper disclosure. A pivotal milestone came in 2019 when GuideStar merged with Foundation Center — the leading source of data on philanthropic funding — to form Candid, a new nonprofit organization. The merger brought together complementary datasets and significantly expanded Candid's reach and authority. The GuideStar platform was rebranded under the Candid umbrella, and the seals were renamed "Candid Seals of Transparency," though the GuideStar.org URL remains in active use. Today, Candid's data powers over 230 websites, platforms, and applications across the philanthropic sector.