The U.S. Nonprofit Organization's Public Disclosure Regulations Site
	Annual Informational Returns from Some Nonprofit Organizations

This section provides links to complete or nearly complete Form 990 information available online for tax-exempt organizations. It may not be exhaustive, but if your organization has posted a complete copy of their Form 990 online, feel free to let me know and I'll add a link to it the next time I update this page. The NAMES below are links to the official Web sites for those organizations. The DATES are links to the annual returns themselves. The files are mostly PDF-format page images, and therefore are moderately large, varying in size between about 0.75 and 3 MB.

Note: In its proposed regulations regarding online publication of annual informational returns, the IRS estimated that once the regulations become final approximately 1000 tax-exempt organizations would make their documents widely available by posting them on the Internet.

• American Red Cross - 1996
• The Asia Foundation - 1996
• California Community Foundation - 1994, 1995, 1996
• Compassion International - 1995, 1996, 1997
• DU Educational Technology Services, Inc. - 1995, 1996, 1997
• The Evergreen State Society - 1997, 1998
• Free Minds, Inc. - 1997 (incomplete)
• Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, Inc. - 1996 (and others)
• The HTML Writer's Guild - 1997
• Independent Sector - 1997
• Investigative Reporters and Editors - 1994
• Montana Environmental Information Center - 1994, 1995, 1996
• Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Inc. - 1995, 1996, 1997
• National Heritage Foundation - 1997
• Nonprofit Financial Center - 1996
• MaineShare - 1997
• Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind - 1997
• Pacific West Cancer Fund - 1998
• Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations - 1997
• Philanthropic Research, Inc. - 1996, 1997
• United Way of America - 1996
• United Way of Orange County - 1996 (incomplete)
• Wings Over Mid-America - 1997 (incomplete)
• World Emergency Relief (Children's Food Fund) - 1997

An introduction to financial analysis of NPO tax returns and finances in general is provided by several texts:

• An Introduction to Analyzing the IRS Form 990-EZ
• An Introduction to Financial Analysis of Selected Parts of the IRS Form 990 Schedule A (DRAFT)
• An Introduction to Analyzing the IRS Form 990 (not yet complete)
• National Charities Information Bureau (NCIB): IRS Form 990 - An Evaluation Tool
• NY Times: In the 990's Fine Print, the Innards of Nonprofits
• 990 tax forms provide a wealth of information
• A Sampling of Common Errors on Forms 990
• GuideStar: A discussion on the use of ratios and indicators
• NPO-FAQ: Are Ratios Useful? For Donors? For the Community?
• How to Read a Nonprofit Financial Statement
• Council of Better Business Bureaus, "Standards for Charitable Solicitations"
• NCIB: Standards in Philanthropy
• Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector

Unless you are familar with the relevent IRS forms, it can be useful to have a copy at hand of the instructions for completing it. Also, completed returns are sometimes scanned at too low a resolution to easily read some of the small text. The links below will provide you with the instructions and blank annual informational returns used by tax-exempt organizations for the current and some previous years.

This section provides links to sites that provide data extracted from Forms 990.

• The AIDS Service Provider Accountability Project. This project is obtaining Forms 990 from various organizations related to AIDS research and support, and some other organizations, and posting selected portions of them online. As of August 31, 1998, they have posted information from Forms 990 from over 35 organizations.
• The Form 990 Web Site Project. This project provides both a source of Form 990 information provided by participating organizations, and a demonstration of what electronic submission of Form 990s to the IRS could look like. Information submitted this way can be automatically indexed and searched, providing a more useful resource than only images of the completed Form 990 document itself. Also included is an excellent essay entitled "Responses to Frequently Raised Objections Regarding Form 990."
• Internet Nonprofit Center. This site provides a "locator service" that presents some financial and other information from the IRS files, which ultimately is derived from each organization's Forms 990 and 1023 through the IRS public databases. This is the only site that presents the complete IRS public database data in a form searchable by charity, but the database it uses was somewhat out of date when this page was last updated.
• GuideStar. This organization publishes a variety of information about NPOs, including some basic financial information extracted from the IRS public databases in a searchable form, and detailed Form 990 data for some charities.
• National Center for Charitable Statistics. Provides several databases of financial and other NPO information for a fee. Free access to their core database may be available.
• Internal Revenue Service: Exempt Organization Statistics (IRS public databases). A set of "master files" in a raw format, with selected information extracted from the Forms 990 and 1023 of every U.S. tax-exempt organization. The Internet Nonprofit Center's locator service offers a more convenient search engine to access these same records.
• State-Operated Databases
  • Arizona Charitable Organizations System. Provides contact information and the date of registration, but no financial information.
  • Georgia Database of Registered Charities. Secretary of State site provides only contact information for registered soliciting charities.
  • Kentucky Database on Charities. Shows the organization's assets and contributions. At this time (18Feb99) only private foundations are listed, but adding other classes is planned.
  • Maryland Charities Database. From the Maryland Secretary of State's office, it provides some basic financial information. Can select by the home state of the organization.
  • Minnesota Organizations That Solicit Funds. The state Attorney General's registration database of Minnesota-registered soliciting organizations, with a significant portion of financial data from recent and past tax returns, including information not in the IRS public databases. Can select by the home state of the organization.
  • New Hampshire Directory of Charitable Funds. A listing of charitable trusts, some of which are active nonprofit charitable organizations. Only the organization's purpose, total assets and contact information are provided.
  • New Jersey Charitable Registration Directory. From the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, it includes some very basic financial information.
  • New York "1998 Financial Data of Charities that Solicit Contributions from New York State Residents." NY Attorney General's database provides fairly detailed financial information, showing how the revenue and expenses of registered charities are allocated among major classifications. However, only organizations that used commercial telemarketers are listed. The 1997 database is also available.
  • Oregon Charities Database. From the Oregon Attorney General's office, it provides basic financial information. The search page allows screening by assets, revenue, and broad activity classification, and offers the complete database for downloading. Can select by the home state of the organization.
  • Pennsylvania Charities Database. From the Pennsylvania Secretary of State, it provides some basic financial information. Can select by the home state of the organization.
  • Tennessee Registered Charities. Only a list of registered charities, with no financial information, is provided at this time by the Secretary of State.
  • Washington State Charitable Solicitations Program Registration Data. Provides some basic financial data for soliciting organizations registered in that state, from the Secretary of State's office. Can select by the home state of the organization.

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