The Candid Seals of Transparency on GuideStar help you demonstrate your transparency to potential funders and donors. Their updated look now fully reflects Candid’s organization-wide commitment to this work.

To earn the Platinum Seal of Transparency you must also complete the Bronze, Silver, and Gold requirements.

Donors need to know about your organization’s goals and how you plan to achieve them. You can upload a strategic plan from the last 5 years to help them understand your work.

Don’t have a recent strategic plan? Answer some questions about your strategy and goals. You can find this information in your annual report, latest grant application.

1. Problem Overview - What is your organization aiming to accomplish?

2. Goals* - What are your organization's goals?

3. Strategies* - What are your strategies for making this happen?

4. Capabilities - What are your organization's capabilities for doing this?

5. Progress - What have you accomplished so far and what's next?

* asterisk denotes required fields

Review our library of potential metrics by clicking View PDF and choose metrics that your organization uses to track your progress towards forwarding your mission. If you are unsure which metrics to use, please review public-facing materials, such as your website. You can choose up to 20 metrics, though 3-5 metrics is a good start.

Select your metrics.  If you are unable to find a metric that fits your organization in our library, then enter your own custom metric. To do so, scroll to the bottom of the page in step 2 and click on "Can't find a metric? Add your own."

Enter your custom metric. Keep your metrics linear by following the format "Number of (adults) who (are provided with safe housing)". Click on the box "I understand that using a custom metric means it will not be comparable to others in the field."

You will be given suggested metrics (just in case you didn't see them before). If you still want your custom metric, click the box at the bottom "Use my custom metric."

Click Continue at the bottom of the page after you've selected all your metrics.

Report metric results by clicking Edit.

To achieve the Platinum Seal of Transparency, you must provide the most recent year's worth of data; however, it is recommended that you provide 3-5 years' worth of data, if available.  Click "Add a year" to continue adding data, dating back to the year 2000.  

Use the drop down menu to select the Metric Type (Input, Output, Outcome, Context or Other) and Direction of Success (whether you strive to have this metric increase, decrease or hold steady). Not sure how to categorize your metrics? See the articles on choosing your Type of Metric and Direction of Success. 

Give your data some context by writing in the Context notes section, located to the right of the Year by Year Results section.  This is where you can explain good years, bad years, how your results fit with your larger goals, etc.

If your data relates to a specific program or target population, choose the appropriate program or population using the drop-down menus located beneath the Year by Year Results section. Programs must be entered in the Silver section to appear as an option - Learn how to add a program here.

When your metric is complete, you may click "Yes, display" to show your metric on your public profile, "No, do not display" to save your metric, but not display it publicly, or "Display, but note that it is no longer tracked" to display data that isn't current, but is still important to include in your public profile.  In order to achieve the Platinum Seal of Transparency, you must click "Yes, display" for at least one metric with the most recent year's worth of data.

In addition to sharing your organization's year-over-year metrics, you have the option of uploading an external evaluation to your profile. This is a document completed by a professional evaluator or expert--someone who is external to your organization--who has assessed the quality of your organization's programs and overall work.

Not sure what an external evaluation is? See the article on How to Upload an External Evaluation.