Nonprofit Insights & Giving Tips

The reputation of a nonprofit on the Internet depends not only on the organization’s own site and social networks but also on third-party profiles, which could be used by donors, foundations, and other stakeholders in their assessment of the credibility, transparency and management of the nonprofit. In the United States, two such resources include Charity Navigator and Candid. They both gather information about nonprofit organizations but have somewhat different roles and different approaches to presenting this information.

Neglecting these profiles might lead to the situation when the current activities of the organization are perceived in a way that is quite different from the reality due to the lack of relevant information. The outdated mission, the absence of program descriptions, outdated impact data or leadership information might give the idea that a working nonprofit does not exist at all. It should also be noted that it would be misleading for a nonprofit to think that improving its profile is just the question of some marketing statements. For example, Charity Navigator currently evaluates the information provided by the nonprofit in a number of categories and Candid uses this information to award its Seals of Transparency.

Understand What Charity Navigator Is Showing

There are a number of factors used by Charity Navigator when making the profiles and evaluations for each organisation. As indicated in its website, Charity Navigator uses information from the IRS, from partners and from the charities themselves when making its ratings. This is an indication that the organisation cannot assume that all the information on its profile comes from what was provided to Charity Navigator.

The current Charity Navigator profile may include some information about the organisation along with the rating information and specific evaluation areas. There are four main beacons used currently by Charity Navigator, and they are as follows: Accountability & Finance, Impact & Measurement, Leadership & Planning, and Culture & Compensation. Some of the things included in the profile will indicate which beacons have been completed by the organisation and how well the organisation is doing in them.

Understand What Candid Is Showing

Candid profiles place strong emphasis on information supplied by nonprofits themselves. Candid encourages organisations to claim their profiles and add information about their mission, programs, finances, leadership and impact. It then uses that information to award different levels of its Seal of Transparency. Candid states that claiming and updating a profile is free.

For 2026, Candid has continued the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum progression, with higher levels requiring increasingly detailed information. Its current guidance shows that Bronze includes foundational information such as mission, population served and organisational contacts, while higher levels add program, financial, leadership and impact-related information. This makes the Candid profile useful not only as a directory listing but also as a structured way to show funders how much organisational information the nonprofit is willing to make visible.

Claim the Profiles Before Trying to Improve Them

Nonprofits need to ensure they have the right level of access to their profiles. Candid has a profile claiming system where authorised people can claim the nonprofit’s profile and then update it. Once claimed, the nonprofit can proceed to fill up their profile and earn the Seal of Transparency.

Charity Navigator has a system where a nonprofit can request for their profile or rating to be updated, and public charity profiles will show whether they have been managed by the nonprofit. The person with the access needs to understand how the public-facing messages correlate with the financial and governance information. The profile should not rely solely on the personal account of one individual since the turnover of employees would make it harder to regain control.

Verify the Basic Identity Information First

Consider first the basics before going to ratings and seals. The legal name, common name, EIN, address, website, phone number and any other identification information should all reflect the organisation properly. In case the nonprofit organisation has recently changed offices, re-branded itself or even updated its official website, third-party profiles will probably fall behind.

Such considerations may not seem as important when compared to impact information, but they have to do with credibility right away. A donor who will notice an outdated website or a wrong address will start to question whether the profile has been updated at all. The staff of the organisation needs to compare profiles on Charity Navigator, Candid, the organization’s own website, as well as the most recent Form 990.

Review the Mission Statement for Clarity

A mission statement often appears prominently on a nonprofit profile. It should explain what the organisation exists to accomplish without becoming a long piece of promotional copy. A donor scanning several charities may spend only a short time deciding whether the organisation’s work aligns with their interests.

The mission should also be consistent across major public channels. If the website describes one priority while Candid uses a statement written five years earlier, the organisation’s positioning becomes less clear. Candid specifically asks nonprofits to provide mission information as part of its Bronze Seal requirements. Updating this section is therefore both a transparency task and an opportunity to make the organisation easier for funders and supporters to understand.

Make Program Descriptions Specific

General statements such as “we empower communities” or “we create lasting change” do not tell a donor what the organisation actually does. Program descriptions should explain who is served, what service is delivered and, where relevant, where the program operates.

Candid’s transparency framework specifically includes program information at the Silver level, making program descriptions part of the information donors and funders can use to evaluate the organisation. Good descriptions do not need to become grant proposals. A few clear sentences about the activity, population and purpose are usually more valuable than broad language filled with organisational slogans.

Keep Program Information Current

Programs change. A nonprofit may close an older initiative, launch a new service or expand into another geographic area. Third-party profiles should be updated when those changes become meaningful.

Leaving discontinued programs on a profile can cause problems when donors ask about something the organisation no longer operates. It can also reduce the visibility of newer work that better reflects the current mission. A regular annual profile review, ideally connected with Form 990 preparation, annual reporting or strategic planning, can help make sure the public information remains aligned with actual operations.

Improve the Financial Information Before Worrying About the Score

Nonprofits frequently search for ways to make a charity navigator rating improve, but a rating should not be treated as a number that can be adjusted through marketing language. Charity Navigator’s current evaluation framework includes financial health and accountability information within its Accountability & Finance beacon.

The organisation should therefore begin with accurate financial reporting, appropriate governance practices and complete public disclosures. If information derived from tax filings is incorrect because an underlying Form 990 was prepared inaccurately, editing the profile description will not solve the real problem. Finance staff, leadership and the board should understand what data is being reported and whether the organisation’s public financial picture reflects actual operations.

Review Your Form 990 Before Filing

For charities evaluated using IRS data, the Form 990 can influence what appears on third-party profiles. Charity Navigator states that it uses IRS information as one of the sources supporting its ratings. This makes the return more than a compliance form. It can also become a public source of information used by donors and rating platforms.

Before filing, leadership should review program service descriptions, governance responses, compensation reporting, revenue and expense classifications and other public-facing sections. The objective is accuracy, not attempting to manipulate a rating. An error on the return can continue circulating across nonprofit databases after the filing is published, making correction much more cumbersome than reviewing carefully before submission.

Understand the Accountability and Finance Beacon

Charity Navigator’s Accountability & Finance section includes several areas, including accountability measures, financial health, and revenue and expense information. Public beacon reports show how individual items contribute to the organisation’s assessment.

Nonprofits should read the actual beacon report instead of looking only at the final star rating. A lower result may be connected with a specific governance policy, disclosure or financial metric. Understanding the component helps management determine whether the issue reflects missing information, an outdated practice or a genuine operational concern. This is much more useful than searching for a quick way to change the final score.

Do Not Chase Ratios Without Understanding Them

Nonprofit leaders may be tempted to change spending behaviour purely because a public profile displays financial ratios. That can produce poor decisions. A charity still needs appropriate administrative systems, technology, finance staff, fundraising capacity and other infrastructure to operate responsibly.

The organisation should understand how its spending relates to mission delivery and be able to explain major changes. If administrative expenses increased because the nonprofit implemented a new accounting system or hired necessary compliance staff, that context matters internally even if a donor initially notices the percentage. Sustainable operations are more important than trying to make every financial metric appear unusually low.

Pay Attention to Impact and Measurement

Charity Navigator now includes Impact & Measurement as one of its four beacons. Public profiles show areas associated with measurement, learning and impact within this beacon. This reflects a broader shift away from judging nonprofits primarily by overhead and financial ratios.

Organisations should therefore develop a credible way to explain what their programs accomplish. That does not require every nonprofit to commission expensive academic studies. It does require defining outcomes that make sense for the mission, collecting useful information and reviewing whether programs are achieving what leadership expects. Strong measurement should improve program decisions first and strengthen the public profile as a result.

Use Meaningful Impact Metrics on Candid

Candid’s Platinum Seal requires organisations to share goals, strategies and impact metrics. Its current 2026 guidance states that a nonprofit working towards Platinum should provide board demographic information as well as mission-driven goals, strategies and metrics.

Choose metrics that genuinely explain progress. A mentoring organisation might track participants completing a program, while a food assistance organisation might track households served, distribution frequency and other measures connected to its objectives. Avoid selecting a metric simply because the number looks impressive. A donor benefits more from a smaller number of understandable measures than a profile filled with disconnected statistics.

Explain What the Numbers Mean

A raw number rarely tells the entire story. Saying that 5,000 people participated in a program sounds substantial, but a reader may not know whether that represents growth, decline or the expected annual level.

Where profile fields allow context, explain the goal behind the metric and what the organisation learned from it. If participation fell because the nonprofit intentionally shifted towards a more intensive service model, that information can prevent misinterpretation. Transparency does not mean presenting every result as a success. It means giving stakeholders enough information to understand what the organisation is trying to accomplish and how it evaluates progress.

Review Leadership and Planning Information

Charity Navigator’s Leadership & Planning beacon examines information connected with leadership, governance and program planning. A nonprofit should therefore ensure that public information about leadership and organisational direction is complete and current where it has the opportunity to provide it.

This also creates an internal governance check. If leadership cannot clearly explain how major programs connect with strategic priorities, the profile may be revealing a genuine management weakness rather than a communications problem. Public ratings should sometimes prompt useful internal questions. Improving the organisation itself is more valuable than simply improving what a rating page displays.

Keep Leadership Information Updated on Candid

Candid’s higher transparency levels ask for leadership and demographic information. Its Gold Seal guidance includes providing demographic information for organisational leadership, while Platinum extends transparency to board information and impact-related details.

Staff changes should therefore be reflected when appropriate. An executive director who left two years ago should not remain listed as the organisation’s leader. The same principle applies to board information where requested. Current leadership data makes the profile more useful to funders conducting basic due diligence.

Handle Demographic Information Responsibly

Candid asks nonprofits to share demographic information about leadership and board members as part of higher Seal levels. Organisations should approach this information thoughtfully and follow Candid’s current guidance for collection.

Staff or board members should not have demographic attributes guessed or assigned by someone else for the sake of completing the profile. The organisation should use appropriate voluntary collection processes and communicate why the information is being requested. Transparency works best when the underlying data has been gathered respectfully and accurately.

Review Culture and Compensation Information

Charity Navigator’s Culture & Compensation beacon includes areas such as compensation practices, workplace policies and salary information. Organisations should review what this part of their profile currently shows and understand which information is incomplete.

The goal should not be to select policies only because they appear on a rating platform. Compensation and workplace policies should make sense for the organisation, comply with applicable requirements and support fair management. Where a missing policy reflects a real governance gap, however, the profile can provide a useful prompt for the board and leadership to address it.

Do Not Create Policies Just to Tick a Box

It is possible to have a beautifully written policy that nobody follows. That is not meaningful governance. If a rating system highlights a policy area the organisation has not addressed, leadership should first determine whether the practice is appropriate and how it will actually operate.

For example, adopting a whistleblower, conflict-of-interest or document retention policy should involve more than downloading a template and placing it in a shared folder. Staff and board members need to understand relevant responsibilities. Better governance may eventually support a stronger public profile, but the internal practice should come first.

Understand the Difference Between a Rating and a Seal

Charity Navigator ratings and Candid Seals of Transparency should not be described as the same thing. Charity Navigator evaluates organisations through its rating methodology and beacons, while Candid’s Seals recognise the level of information an organisation has made available through its profile.

This distinction is important in donor communication. A nonprofit earning a Candid Platinum Seal should not imply that Candid has declared it one of the most effective charities in its field. The Seal indicates transparency based on information shared. Similarly, a Charity Navigator rating reflects that platform’s current methodology. Both can be useful trust signals when explained accurately.

Work Through the Candid Seal Levels Systematically

A nonprofit does not need to complete every Candid field in one sitting. It can work through the Seal requirements progressively, making sure each level contains accurate information before moving higher.

Candid’s Bronze guidance focuses on foundational details such as mission, population served, donation information and organisational contacts. Higher levels add programs, finances, leadership information and impact. This progression provides a useful internal checklist for organisations that have never maintained a detailed public nonprofit profile before.

Keep Financial Information Current on Candid

Candid’s Gold-level guidance includes financial information, and current guidance allows qualifying organisations to provide relevant financial documentation or required financial fields depending on the applicable Seal process.

Financial data should be reconciled with official statements and filings before publication. The development team should not estimate numbers simply to complete the profile quickly. Finance staff should confirm figures so donors are not presented with information that conflicts with the latest Form 990 or financial statements.

Renew the Candid Seal Each Year

Candid’s 2026 process requires nonprofits to keep their profile current to maintain the year’s Seal. Candid states that organisations that earned a Seal in 2025 can obtain the 2026 Seal by logging in, reviewing profile fields for accuracy, adding recent data as needed and publishing the updated profile.

This annual rhythm is useful even beyond the Seal itself. It encourages the nonprofit to review its mission, programs, finances and leadership rather than allowing the profile to remain untouched for years. Assigning the update to a specific month can make it part of the organisation’s normal annual communications and reporting calendar.