Candid GuideStar vs. Factiva

It is just my go-to for any information I need on a potential client as I work in the non-profit consulting space and need to better understand my prospects. As a former nonprofit exec, I valued what we could share on the site as a gold seal for others to learn about our worthiness to invest.

Incentivized

A large part of our work depends on the ability to source quality media content from a breadth of dependable sources globally. This is Factiva's bread and butter: it has a very comprehensive list of 'quality' media sources such as nationals, dailies, business journals and magazines from around the world that are easily mined for the content they hold. If you're thinking about anything other than these 'traditional' media sources then Factiva probably isn't your thing. It doesn't do social media.

Incentivized

• Identifying information from funder 990s
• Gives credence to transparency claims

Incentivized

• Factiva offers excellent search builders so that I am able to narrow my search to specific companies or topics very easily.
• Factiva combines a large number of credible sources into one place and allows me to search all of these sources.
• Factiva's use of timestamps helps me understand when the news was known by the market which allows me to analyze how (if at all) that particular piece of news impacted the company's stock price.
• Provides an excellent starting place for learning about a company and/or industry.

Incentivized

• Most 990s are typically a few years behind.
• Organization profiles are only as complete as the organization makes them.

Incentivized

• The UX leaves room to be desired
• There are often repetitive entries
• The functionality can be confusing

Incentivized

Any support I've ever had to get from them was quick and professional. Their online guides/help docs are also easy to read.

Incentivized

I have always used Guidestar as my go-to not only when I was a non-profit executive and wanted to ensure we remained worthy of their rating but also now as a non-profit consultant where I need to understand my current and potential partners across financials, key contacts, board members, etc.

Incentivized

At the time, Factiva was already being used by the company I worked for - they had developed procedures specifically for using Factiva, so there wasn't really an option. I've used Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg exclusively for legal research, so there wasn't really an overlap with Factiva.

Incentivized

• More informed grant proposals.
• Able to easily and efficiently complete grant research.

Incentivized