Latest / The Nonprofit Podcast / Ep 211| The Nonprofit Visibility Gap - and the Funding It's Costing You!

Transcript

Ep 211| The Nonprofit Visibility Gap - and the Funding It's Costing You! · The Nonprofit Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Here's something worth sitting with.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Before a donor ever donates, before a funder ever opens your grant application, they are already forming an opinion about your organization.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they've Googled you, they've checked your website, maybe they looked you up in a nonprofit database.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: And based on what they found or what they didn't find, they've already decided whether or not you feel credible and you weren't even in the room.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking about how to make sure what people actually find about your organization reflects the heart of your organization.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Nonprofit Podcast, powered by DonorBox.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Jenna Lynch, head of community engagement here at DonorBox.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Each week we bring you practical strategies, clear insights, and inspiration to help you raise more, reach further, and take your nonprofit to the next level.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And today's conversation really comes down to this nonprofits are being evaluated long before someone ever clicks donate.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do nonprofits make sure the story people are seeing is accurate, trustworthy, and consistent, and that they've got control of their own narrative?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited to be joined by Tori Borrello, marketing manager at Candid.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Candid is a nonprofit organization that helps connect people to the information they need to do good.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Many organizations know them through GuideStar and the Seals of Transparency, which help nonprofits share information about their work impact and operations with supporters and funders.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Tori, welcome to the show.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Jenna.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited for this conversation because I think this is something nonprofits are navigating more and more right now between growing conversations around nonprofit accountability, increased public skepticism online in general, right?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: The rise of AI-generated information and summaries, it feels like organizations are being evaluated much more carefully now than they were even just a couple of years ago.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And because you work so closely with nonprofit profiles, transparency, and this public-facing information every day, I imagine you're getting a really interesting view into how organizations are showing up online right now, uh, you know, what they're paying attention to and what supporters are paying attention to.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: We'll start here.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: What does that increased scrutiny actually look like for organizations right now?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what are nonprofits experiencing?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: What are you seeing through your work at Candid?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for asking, Jenna.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say uh Candid specifically gets to see a lot of these conversations in real time on social media.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: We often get tagged, we're just seen as a trusted resource.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: So we end up either in or around a lot of these conversations, and it's it's completely true.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: People are asking within their own circles when they are trying to find a nonprofit to donate to, or increasingly they're relying on AI to find the information that they're looking for.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: And they want specifics.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: They want to know what a nonprofit does with my money?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Where are they getting their funding from?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do they actually use this funding to make a difference?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: And can they prove that?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: They want a clear picture of what a nonprofit does and who it helps.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: And if they don't get that information easily and quickly, then they'll find somewhere else to get it.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: You'd be surprised by the results that they get.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of misconceptions, a lot of misunderstandings.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um and AI will, you know, AI will scrape, um, but you got to have something there for it to scrape.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what's interesting about this to me is that just how quickly it's all happening, right?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about this long research process anymore, right?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're talking about impressions that form in minutes, sometimes less, which makes me wonder we've talked about a few avenues here, right?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Where people are actually forming those first impressions today.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: AI, Google, where else are they getting that information from?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: So many of the first impressions right now are happening on social media and they're forming so fast.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the time on data that isn't even official or verified, somebody will see a post, they see a comment, it could be a controversy that shapes their perception of an organization before they've ever been to that nonprofit's website or looked at verified data.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: The conversation, it might start on social media, it starts on Instagram or X.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but the verification is happening somewhere else.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's happening on places like candid, and that's the real opportunity for nonprofits.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: If someone lands on your candid profile and they find the complete up-to-date information, that turns a moment of doubt into a moment of confidence, and that's where nonprofits can thrive.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, a lot of them don't even know what comes up when they Google themselves right now.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I would definitely say nonprofits, Google yourself, ask an AI agent, ask Claude or Chat GPT about your nonprofit because some of the answers might surprise you.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's not a channel that I had thought about.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe nonprofit organizations, this is an aha moment for them too.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of nonprofits still think about trust mostly through the lens of their own website or their official communications.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: But that social media changes the dynamic, and especially because they can't control those narratives that are happening, right?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So there is a big credibility piece there, very much outside of the nonprofit's direct control.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll dive into this more, just following up.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do you think nonprofits should approach that reality, especially when people may be forming opinions based on clips, comments, conversations happening online?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about Googling yourself or just checking what your presence is.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's the first course of action if you're seeing whether it's negative or positive or just not factual uh information on social media?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: So with socials, a lot of the time they'll get some sort of quick first impression that will lead them to the search.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: And this is where nonprofits can actually take control.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: They can control their narrative in this aspect when funders start doing their due diligence with uh a Google search, AI tools that research nonprofits.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of the reasons that Candid actually launched a partnership with Anthropic last year, is to make sure that when people are using Claude, they're getting accurate, trustworthy nonprofit data that's pulled directly from candid profiles.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: So wherever donors are looking to try and get those quick signals, the information needs to be current, it needs to be reliable.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: If it isn't, we know that the trust erodes very quickly.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where candid profiles and seals really just make a difference for nonprofits.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Outside of just the numbers themselves, I mean, we've already been able to do the research and see that when an organization puts additional information out there, is transparent, earns a seal to show that off, you know, just visually and throughout their network.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Funders give an average of 62% more to organizations with a seal.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we already know that there is a payoff down the line for that transparency.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And the SEALs themselves kind of do a lot of the work in that they are that quick signal to the funder.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the landscape has changed to the point where they want to be able to quickly do their due diligence.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: If they're looking and they can't find the data that they need to make that quick decision to fund you, they will go to another nonprofit that has that information available.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: And for small nonprofits, a website might not always be an option.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: It might not be within your budget to have a web developer and to keep up and get it all nice and pretty.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of where a candid profile is free to claim, it's free to update, it holds all of the information that funders are looking for.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why we're seeing more and more that a lot of funders actually are requiring a profile andor seals because it just has all the information that you would need already to provide a funder.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it just proves that quick signal.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: You can trust us, you can fund us, and we know that they do end up funding them.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned if an organization doesn't have complete information or data, right?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: This funding or donation may move to another organization that does have a complete candid profile or a certain level of transparency.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um what kinds of gaps or inconsistencies tend to create that hesitation that could move the opportunity for funding and donations away to another organization?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we know gaps in information create doubt.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Doubt kills donations.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: If a donor can't find the basic information that they need before they fund you, if they can't figure out what a nonprofit does or how it spends its money quickly, they're gonna go move on immediately.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: They're not gonna try to find it, they're not gonna, you know, peruse around or email you for it.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: They're moving on.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Inconsistent information is just as damaging.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: It raises questions about whether the org is being straightforward.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, why isn't this information lining up with other things that I can find?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Nonprofits leaving those blanks unfilled, it's just letting your story be told by somebody else for you.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: And typically it's not gonna get the results that you're looking for.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of public misunderstandings about nonprofit data.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Candid Com's department is amazing, and they have this whole series, mission over myth, where articles and social media posts that are just digging into the misinformation that is out there about how much nonprofit data is available, how many Americans actually use nonprofits.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the time there's this common thread that the public is often unaware of what's happening to nonprofits because nonprofits themselves are not being transparent enough.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: So it kind of creates this cycle.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, the risk here is often pretty invisible, right?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: A donor who didn't give doesn't usually tell you why.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it happens very quietly.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: A funder doesn't send a note to say that you gave them pause.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't always know what you missed or why, right?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's the hard part.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: The cost is very silent.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what did you say?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Doubt something donation.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Doubt kills donations.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: That is like the hero line of this podcast.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can tell already, right?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's what makes this difficult for organizations to diagnose sometimes, is that people quietly move on.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: A funder narrows that list, and and you don't always realize uncertainty was part of the decision, right?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a useful distinction, especially, you know, what they see publicly becomes part of the case that you're making, whether you you made it or not, right?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so let's dive more into what organizations can actually do about this.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think there's a version of this conversation where it can just feel overwhelming.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked about just the general, okay, there's scrutiny and it's happening more and more.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: People are searching in this way.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not deep hours of research, it's minutes of looking up or coming across a comment or using a tool.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe they're not using Claude to get the complete information.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's why I switched to Claude is right when you guys integrated with them, I knew that that was a platform that I could trust to get better information about the organizations I want to learn about.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: But there are thousands of places your organization shows up online, and no team could realistically manage all of them perfectly.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: So this does feel like a big conversation.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think that perfection is really the goal here.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: The framing I keep coming back to is, and you said this, is owning your information, not controlling every conversation online, but reducing the unnecessary uncertainty and making sure people are encountering accurate, consistent information.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: So thinking about more of what this looks like in practice, what does it look like for a nonprofit to own their information across all of these different touch points?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so one of the interesting things, and going back to what you said earlier about how the decision-making process can be quiet.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: You don't even get to find out what it is that prevented you from getting that donation.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: You don't even necessarily know that someone is looking or considering, and then, oh, it was this exact data point that I didn't see, and that's why I didn't end up funding you.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: We've kind of seen that this quiet kind of works the other way as well.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: So we actually have a foundation that we worked with recently in Chicago, and they started requiring that any of their grantees have a candid profile.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: And just in their grantees getting their candid profile up and getting connected to the network of platforms that candid feeds into, suddenly the nonprofit received this check and they didn't understand it.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: So they were asking the foundation if the foundation gave them the check, and they were like, no, don't you know that the candid profile plugs into all of these other platforms, including donor-advised funds?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of the time, nonprofits may not know why they're being passed up.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then on the other side, they'll maybe be like, oh, well, now I'm getting funding.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: And what was the point that changed?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: What was the marker where we cross this line and now there's a difference in funding?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it really is just having that data available, not just to the person that's asking for it, but by being in the network, by being available online truly everywhere, Facebook fundraisers, Cloud for Nonprofits, putting your information on a candid profile isn't just putting it there so that anyone that uses candid can look at it.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: You're going into the entire ecosystem of the social sector and making yourself available wherever people are looking for nonprofits.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you're plugging yourself into diverse funding lanes that you might not fully understand, but you definitely want to be there.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what I would say is put yourself and take your resources into the places that they matter most and put your data where it matters most.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Take the time, claim your Canada profile, earn your seals so that you can get noticed.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: And down the line, we see, you know, 62% more.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's nothing to balk at.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it's something that nonprofits, once they actually go through the process of providing the information, it's like a no-brainer.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's info that you already had.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of the time, you can use the candidate profile and send that to funders so that they can just see everything in one place.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then you don't have to duplicate your work by filling out a whole other grant application.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's an amazing source of truth.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you said something, and this is such an important distinction that this isn't just a record that exists about your organization just somewhere online.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that people find in any kind of scenario, and it's something nonprofits can actively shape and contribute to, which is a really meaningful opportunity.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you gave that example.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: On the flip side, you could be pleasantly surprised with unexpected support.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to go a level deeper on the seals because I think this is where they really deserve a little bit more explanation.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of our listeners and users at DonorBox have heard of seals of transparency, and some of them are actively working toward one or have one.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to make sure we explain what they actually represent because I think sometimes people think of them as just a badge on a website.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: So when someone sees that seal, what are they actually meant to understand about that organization that has one?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: So the seals of transparency are additional, they are seals that you can earn on your profile, but they're more than just the pretty little squares that we redesign each year.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: They are indicators that you have put in a certain amount of information and they help to verify that an organization has disclosed that key information, but in a consistent and a standardized way.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: So this is the verification that does real work that funders who need to feel confident before they give, this is that quick signal that they're looking for.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: And the different levels of seals, I know that a lot of people, when you introduce sort of almost like the Olympic medal concept, they're like, oh no, like there's no way that I could ever, you know, there's no way I could get gold.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: There's no way that I could get a platinum seal.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's all the way up there.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's unachievable.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a small nonprofit.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: But the SEAL program is designed just so the information that you already have, you might need to, you know, you got to enter into the profile, but these are things that you already have in front of you.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's things that you already know about your nonprofit, or it's things that you're gonna need to surface and get ready for a potential donor or funder, regardless.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a way for you to get in and just get rewarded and get noticed for putting in information that you already have.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: The bronze seal you can earn in, I want to be generous and say five minutes.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: You need to put in your mission statement, your name, a mailing address, so that when you get checks, they go to the right place.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: You'd be surprised how many people get checks to the wrong place and think they're getting no checks.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: So little tiny things like that, literally just your mailing address and having it accurate on the site that plugs into all of the other major platforms, it's a big, huge difference between funding and no funding.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: And once you've earned your seal, you've put in that information and you've been able to get that quick signal, you can put it to work, display it on your website, display it on fundraising materials.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of different ways to download it and print and put on your website.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: So don't worry.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: It is available in all the formats that you need for socials.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: So put it out there, let people know that you have a seal because it took you time to get it and it's gonna pay off for you.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: But just make sure to show it off to your network.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: And this way, when donors see it, it signals you're open, you're accountable, you're trustworthy, and you're gonna get fun.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: And as you climb up in the seal levels, we do have different benefits for smaller nonprofits.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: Getting a gold seal can help them get access to some of our other uh features on Candid.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just a way for you to put something in and get a physical, a visible proof that I have all of this and I've provided it.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm transparent.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why we see on the other side of it the funding that comes in after they have a seal, the difference that it makes.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think this was the perfect example.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Getting a seal of transparency is not an Olympic sport, y'all.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's just making visible what's already true about your organization and you just gotta roll up your sleeves for a few minutes to input it.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: And making things visible really matters when people aren't asking you directly either.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll add a quick practical note here for our donor box users as well.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you're on a pro or premium plan, you can actually upload your seal as a trust badge directly onto your donation form.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just on your website or on your candid profile.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's right there just at the exact moment when someone is deciding whether to complete their gift.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we also have a full guide on nonprofit transparency on the donor box nonprofit blog that we'll link in the show notes as well that talks a little bit more about these trust badges and how they can really work for you and many different channels, which is great.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've talked really honestly about what it costs when organizations don't have this information in place.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we've talked a bit about when nonprofits do this well, right?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: When they build a consistent, credible presence across all these touch points.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Are there any other results or shifts or excellent case studies that you've seen from having information scattered everywhere or no trust badges to platinum badges and what those results were for any of your organizations?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I was actually uh lucky enough to be with our lovely host here at AF.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: And we were able to meet a lot of different nonprofits and get just that actual FaceTime, which is so important when you're maybe in a role like mine where you can see social media comments and you can see the kind of digital buzz.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: But that face-to-face and having people actually tell you their experience is just worth so much more because I can actually get the human emotion behind it.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Nonprofit professionals know how emotional the job can be.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: So when someone comes up to you and is just like, hey, thank you so much for what you guys do.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: We've had a Platinum CL for the past three years, and ever since we've got it, we just have grown as an organization so much.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: We've been able to really just break out of being like a small local nonprofit.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, hearing it from the nonprofits is just it's invaluable.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: Being able to hear the complete 180 that people have been able to go through with their orgs just because they sat and they plugged information into a website.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Are you able to share how many organizations candid serves?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, well, that's a funny question because Candid and well, most of the information available on nonprofits, it's as well as the bare minimum information that Candid has is from the IRS.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So that data is two years old.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's not usually the most fun or exciting, and funders don't love to make their decisions off of it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it tends to not give the whole story of where a nonprofit is at right now.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: From there, while Candid has that bare minimum data on the 1.9 million nonprofits that are in America right now, we have probably about 120,000 of them that have gone in and contributed that additional data.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's from that pool that we were really able to do the research and see the funding differences that come in after you claim and after you earn seals.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: But that is a big gap.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: There are more than a million nonprofits that their information is on candid from the IRS, and they can come in whenever they want, claim their profile, and add the additional information.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of it is, you know, time and resources, and some of it is really just, you know, the knowledge.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: People may know Foundation Center or GuideStar, people may know about some other options that they have when it comes to being noticed online.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: They maybe want to build up their socials, get a lot of followers there.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that can definitely be an avenue.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: But when it comes to getting funding, we know and we've been able to prove that when you plug into a very specific place and plug your data into Candid so that it can be accessible to the rest of the sector, that just equals wins for you down the line.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Candace done such a great job in serving the nonprofit community as a nonprofit itself.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And as you said, there's so much opportunity.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: And all folks really need to do is have that light bulb moment.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of opportunity.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: So for a small team that wants to take this seriously, and this episode gave them this aha moment.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Where is the very first place that they should start?
• 25:26
  unknown: Okay.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: So for small teams, I know you basically have zero time, zero resources.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: This is why you have to make sure that all of your efforts are delivering maximum benefits.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: When you fill out your candid profile, you're not just updating in one place.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: The data is flowing to dozens of other platforms: Facebook fundraising tools, cloud for nonprofits, major donor-advised funds across the country.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: You fill it in once and it works for you across the board, across the sector.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: This is just really quite genuinely getting the most bang for your buck.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's getting the most out of the time spent.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: For someone newer to this who hasn't, you know, isn't even sure how to find or update their candid profile.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Where do they go?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: So you can go to app.canded.org.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: You can also end up finding your way there if you go to candid.org, but you might get a little lost with all the other awesome resources that we have.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: So app.canded.org is going to be your best option to get straight in.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: We have a little call out there on the front page.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: You will need to either register or log in.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: If you already had a guide star login, then you can use the exact same one.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: And if you haven't claimed your profile before, just follow the prompts that will be on your homepage.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: But you can also just look up your org and see what your candid profile looks like right now.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: And once you see your candid profile and how kind of not great it looks with just that bare minimum bare minimum IRS information, go ahead and claim it and start adding info, earning seals, and you'll see how pretty the profile can look when it's platinum.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd say going even further back, start with auditing your online presence, right?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Look through all of your platforms, Google, social, AI tools, and start there as your before.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Find your candid profile and claim it, update it, roll up the sleeves for a few minutes, block out time this week, spend an hour, and that is your candid time.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: And give it some time.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um after you've created that profile, check back in six months and see what that narrative across all those channels is really looking like.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Victoria, this has been such a thoughtful conversation.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is such an important reminder that this can sound intimidating at first, but a lot of trust building really comes down to that consistency, that accessibility, and just helping people understand who you are and what your organization does.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that is worth the time.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so, so, so, so much for being with us today.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for having me, Jenna.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's been great.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for being a part of the nonprofit podcast community.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Your work matters, and we are honored to support it.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, share it, leave a review, or subscribe on our YouTube channel.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, take that first step and stay inspired.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: That warm feeling when you help someone, it's not just happiness, it's fulfillment.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we believe it should be available to everyone, from frontline heroes to first time fundraisers.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Our tools empower you to help others.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is our mission.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is Donor Box, helping you help others.