Kscope · deep dive · 2026-10-08
Candid, the product that used to be GuideStar and Foundation Directory, sells the 990 plus the profile an organization types in. The filing half is already extracted. The profile, the seal, and the open request for proposals are not.
The scored row used to say the grant graph was still a short build. It is not. The 990 pipeline holds 13.18 million grant rows, and 1.85 million of those recipients sit on a company id. What Candid sells on top of that filing is fresher: a grant the funder reports before it is filed, a seal, a phone number, an audited statement the organization uploads, and a live request for proposals. Insider Focus is the feature they do not have. The trustee on the 990 and the insider on the Form 4 are the same person.
| Feature | Candid | Kscope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organizations | 1.9 million profiles. Their about page says the IRS file is enhanced with data only they collect. | 3.49 million organization rows from the 990 pipeline, as of the foundations note on 2026-08-11. 17,799 are joined by exact EIN onto the company graph. The rest of the file is the 990 row. | Partial |
| Grants | 3 million transactions a year and $180 billion, tagged. The set includes grants a funder reports to Candid that are not on a 990 yet. | 13.18 million grant rows from the filings. 1,853,740 recipients resolved to a company id. That is the filed history, across years, not one year's flow. | Ahead |
| Officers and contacts | Board and staff on the profile. Premium adds email, phone, and a LinkedIn link when the organization typed them in. | 27.28 million officer rows. 15.2 million directors, 7.2 million officers, and 2.13 million trustees taken from the title. The form does not carry an email or a phone. | Partial |
| Financials | 990 lines, plus figures more recent than the IRS, plus an audited statement if the organization uploads one. | The 990 is the source. A peer chart on those lines is a model we can publish. An audit the organization uploads only to Candid is not in the file. | Partial |
| Compliance status | Ultimate checks six sources daily: the exempt-organization master file, Publication 78, automatic revocations, the IRS IRB, OFAC, and California AB 488. Charity Check starts at $2,750 a year. | Those six sources are public files. A daily status across them is not the packaged donor product. | Partial |
| Feature | Candid | Kscope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seal and the self-reported profile | An organization claims its profile and earns a Seal of Transparency by entering mission, programs, impact, demographics, and contacts. The Demographics API is free. | We do not collect that profile, and we do not issue a seal. | Beside |
| Subject codes | The Philanthropy Classification System. Their taxonomy API is free, and they describe it as finer than NTEE. | NTEE comes off the IRS file. Their classification of programs and populations is theirs. | Partial |
| Open grant opportunities | Live RFPs, with deadline and eligibility, in search and in an API. | A grant that has not been filed, and is not in the news we parse, is not in the file. | Gap |
| Funder match and a letter of inquiry | The fundraising assistant takes a plain-language question, returns funders with a reason, and drafts the letter. Premium includes 25 credits a month. Ultimate includes 250. | A match on the grant file we hold is a model, and the letter is a draft of that answer. It is not shipped as a fundraiser tool. | Partial |
| Feature | Candid | Kscope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The same person, two filings | The officer list on the nonprofit profile. | Insider Focus. A foundation trustee and a Form 4 filer are the same person id, with the sale and the liquidity trigger on the public-company side. | Ahead |
| Feature | Candid | Kscope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What a seat costs | Free for a limited search and one full profile a month. Premium is $219 a month, or $1,199 a year. Ultimate is $1,699 a year. APIs start at $2,750 for Charity Check, $4,800 for Essentials, $6,000 for Grants, and $9,900 for Premier. | The 990 file is already in house. A seat price for a Candid-shaped screen is not set. | Ahead |
Ahead The feature is data we already hold, in a form a fundraiser can use.
Match Both products do this.
Partial We have the filing half, or the raw material for the model, and not their finished surface.
Gap They ship it. We do not.
Beside The organization typed it into Candid. That profile is not on a form.