Merger Between the Two Leading Nonprofit Sector Support/Resource Entities

As the managers of two of the largest nonprofit information databases in the country, the Foundation Center and Guidestar shared many similar assets. In 2012, a Lodestar grant enabled the two organizations to engage a consultant to help the two organizations explore the ways in which they could work together on an ongoing basis, seeking new opportunities to combine some of their data publishing activities in order to enable them to develop new services, generate additional revenue, and reduce expenses. While the two organizations did not take any formal steps towards merger then, the seed was planted for further exploration of joint operations. In 2018, Lodestar provided an additional grant for exploration of a merger between the two organizations, which was implemented in 2019, when the new combined organization—Candid—was unveiled.

Grant Information

Grant Amount: $156,000

Year Granted: 2018

Timeframe: Grant awarded over multiple years

Grantee: Foundation Center

Location: National

Grantee Website: Candid