Skip to main content

Guidestar Guide

Achieving validation through GuideStar enhances your charity’s credibility and visibility. It reassures donors and stakeholders of its legal compliance and ethical standing, potentially increasing funding opportunities. This guide will help you make the most of your GuideStar profile.

Hero Image

GuideStar is the main tool for helping you gather the information to complete our onboarding form. Your goal should be to reach the highest level of completion (GuideStar Platinum). Get the highest level you can with the data you have. It takes roughly 2–3 hours to fully reach Platinum the first time and then 30 minutes a year to keep it updated. To be supported by Free For Charity, we require organizations to be at least Gold and to upload info for your board and IRS Designation Documents. See the highlighted areas below.

Free For Charity GuideStar onboarding requirements and highlighted fields

1. Achieving Gold or Platinum Seal of Transparency

  • Create an account: Go to the Candid website and create a free account if you don’t have one.
  • Find your nonprofit profile: Search for your organization using its name or Employer Identification Number (EIN).
  • Claim the profile: Follow the prompts to verify your connection to the nonprofit. Only a designated staff member can claim the profile, but you can invite others later to manage it​ (GuideStar)​(Candid).

NOTE: If you nonprofit is alreay claimed then the current management has to “Add Managers” to allow your email to update the profie.

  • Basic organizational details: Complete the fundamental information for your nonprofit, including:
    • Mission statement
    • Address and contact info
    • Tax ID (EIN)
  • Leadership information: Provide the names and titles of key staff members and board members​ ( Candid insights ).
  • Publication: Once all required fields are completed, publish your updates to earn the Bronze Seal​ ​ (GuideStar)​(Candid).
  • Program details: Add information about your nonprofit’s programs, including:
    • Program names
    • Descriptions of the services provided
    • Geographic areas served
  • Goals and beneficiaries: Share key objectives and the target population that benefits from your services​ ( GuideStart ).
  • Publication: After entering these details, publish to earn the Silver Seal​​ ​ (GuideStar)​(Candid insights).
  • Financial information: Upload detailed financial documents such as:
    • Audited financial statements (if available)
    • IRS Form 990
    • Fiscal year details, including revenue, expenses, assets, and liabilities
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Include DEI data for your organization to further demonstrate your transparency.
  • Publication: After Once financials and DEI data are in place, publish your profile to obtain the Gold Seal​​ ​ (GuideStar)​(GuideStar).
  • Impact metrics: Provide quantitative data that shows the impact of your nonprofit’s work. Some examples include:
    • Number of individuals served
    • Outcomes from specific programs (e.g., scholarships awarded, animals rehabilitated, etc.)
    • Any relevant performance indicators specific to your mission
  • Strategic goals: Upload a strategic plan or similar document, or use past grant applications or board reports to outline your nonprofit’s goals and strategies​ ( GuideStart ).
  • Publication: After After inputting impact metrics and goals, publish your updates to earn the highest level, the Platinum Seal (GuideStar)​(Candid insights).

2. Preparing to share your profile with Free For Charity

Once you have published your report you will then be given a link to share your profile as well as some option for posting this badge to your website that we will need later.

Free For Charity GuideStar onboarding requirements and highlighted fields

Here is an example of the links to copy into the FFC onboarding form:

(These are examples only, please copy the links from your GuideStar profile.)

FFC ‘Full Profile’ GuideStar Link:

https://www.guidestar.org/profile/shared/bbbe173a-87b9-4af9-a8a2-cae255a95742

FFC ‘Public Profile’ GuideStar Link:

https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-2471893

FFC GuideStar Seal Code (This isn’t needed for the onboarding form, but will be needed later):

Candid Seal of Transparency

Put your seal on your website — and never update it again

Don’t upload the seal as an image file: a saved image goes stale the moment you renew (we learned this on our own site). Use Candid’s official embed instead — the seal is served live from Candid keyed to your profile, so the year and level update automatically every time you publish. Replace YOUR_NONPROFIT_IDwith your Candid nonprofit id (it’s the number in your profile’s app.candid.org URL) and the link with your own profile URL:

<a aria-label="Your Organization" href="https://app.candid.org/profile/YOUR_NONPROFIT_ID/" target="_blank">
  <img alt="Candid Seal of Transparency"
       src="https://widgets.guidestar.org/prod/v1/pdp/transparency-seal/YOUR_NONPROFIT_ID/svg" />
</a>

(The seal above is exactly this embed running with FFC’s own id, 9326392 — as is the seal in this site’s footer.) If FFC hosts your website, just send us your nonprofit id and we’ll add it for you.

Please keep your GuideStar profile handy while filling out the FFC onboarding form. A significant portion of the information we require can be copied over from what you provided to GuideStar while achieving your Seal of Transparency.

Have questions about consultation or hosting? Want to know more about nonprofits? Looking to chat? Give a real person a call:

Clarke Moyer (520) 222-8104