Candid Resources

• Candid, the organization that was created through the merging of Foundation Center and GuideStar, is one of Kern Community Foundation’s newest partners. Candid offers a wealth of FREE resources to the nonprofit community. Access a robust menu of resources at Candid at a Glance. Below are some links that are particularly useful:
  • Candid Learning
  • Issue Lab
  • GuideStar Profile Updater
  • Nonprofit Startup Resources
  • Ask an Online Librarian

Operations and Management

• BoardSource – Supports, trains and educates nonprofit leaders from across the country and throughout the world.
• Blue Avocado – Nonprofit blog with a wide range of resources, including a good article explaining nonprofit overhead challenges.
• Cal Nonprofit Compliance Checklist – CalNonprofits has compiled this handy comprehensive checklist to help nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations — charities — keep up-to-date with annual filing requirements. 
• Microsoft Nonprofits – Get access to discounted and donated solutions for nonprofit organizations.
• National Council of Nonprofits – Helps nonprofits achieve greater collective impact by identifying emerging trends, sharing proven practices and promoting solutions that benefit charitable nonprofits and the communities they serve.
• NonprofitReady – Free online course library supporting the most common nonprofit job families, including fundraising, leadership, accounting and finance, operations, marketing and communications, volunteer engagement, and program management.
• Packard’s Organizational Effectiveness Knowledge Center – The Packard Foundation’s space to exchange learning, resources, and reflections about improving nonprofit organizational and network effectiveness.
• TechImpact – offers a Nonprofit Technology Learning Center.
• TechSoup – Free and discounted software and hardware for nonprofits.

Accessing Capital and Economic Development

• Access Plus Capital – a small business loan fund whose mission is to grow businesses and jobs in underserved communities. Their financial products include microloans of $50,000 and under, with affordable finance terms for nonprofits.
• California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA) – A membership organization that serves as a clearinghouse for information and action that advances the field of community economic development through training and continuing education, technical assistance, and advocacy on public policy.
• Resources for Nonprofit Financial Management – The Wallace Foundation​’s library of resources to help your organization become “fiscally fit.”
• The Financial Commons – Nonprofit Quarterly, Propel Nonprofits, and FMA collaborate to share their understanding of the frameworks, functions, and patterns of nonprofit finances.

Statistics/Research/Advocacy

• CalNonprofits.org – The California Association of Nonprofits is a statewide membership organization that brings nonprofits together to advocate for communities throughout our state. Their Causes Count Report, which can be downloaded for free from their website (with the option to purchase a hard copy), is an invaluable statistical tool for expressing regional needs in grant writing, fundraising and advocacy.
• Census.gov – The leading source of quality data about the demographics and economy of the United States. This is a favorite starting place for research for many grant writers.
• GuideStar.org (by Candid) – The largest database on nonprofits, where donors explore charities and issues they want to support, nonprofit leaders benchmark their organizations against their peers, and funders research grantees. A Silver or higher Transparency Rating on GuideStar is required to register with Kern Community Foundation and enjoy grant opportunities offered through the Foundation and the Kern Alliance of Nonprofits. Candid also has available a useful list of COVID-19 resources for nonprofits, consolidated in a reader-friendly one-sheet with lots of useful link. Click here to download.
• IndependentSector.org – A useful and trusted website for finding out major statistics, by state, about the the nonprofit sector and its impact, including the value of a volunteer hour in each state and nationwide.

Publications

• Advancing Philanthropy – Association of Fundraising Professionals’s flagship membership magazine with a quarterly print version and a growing collection of online-only content to help members succeed.
• CalNonprofits – CalNonprofits promotes the collective voice of a network of nearly 10,000 California nonprofits to inform, promote, and strengthen the influence of the nonprofit community through their advocacy and ‘watchdog’ work in Sacramento and at the national level.
  • Buzz Newsletter
  • CalNonprofits Articles
  • Policy Alerts
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy – Chronicle of Philanthropy provides nonprofit professionals, foundation executives, board members, and others with the indispensable information and practical advice they need to help them change the world.
• Nonprofit PRO– Nonprofit PRO offers a magazine, website and daily e-newsletter, NonProfit PRO Today, with a fresh look and quick, hard-hitting content as the go-to source for modern nonprofit professionals.
• The NonProfit Times – NPT Publishing Group has continued to connect nonprofit management with the award-winning news and information it needs, engage readers throughout the sector with insight, ideas, and inspiration, and provide an advertising platform that helps our marketing partners achieve their objectives at an outstanding cost-value level.
• Nonprofit Quarterly – NPQ uses a range of media channels to help advance critical conversations that can refine nonprofit and social movement policy and practice.
• Nonprofit World Magazine – Nonprofit World Magazine, published quarterly, provides informative and educational articles on the most pressing, challenging topics in nonprofit leadership and management from leading nonprofit experts.
• Philanthropy News Digest – Published daily, PND news items summarize the contents of original articles, press or news releases, and/or grantmaker communications.
• Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) – SSIR is written by and for social change leaders from around the world and from all sectors of society—nonprofits, foundations, business, government, and engaged citizens.