ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer Scraper

Overview

Extract IRS 990 tax-exempt organization data directly from ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer API. This scraper is ideal for fundraisers, researchers, nonprofit analysts, and B2B lead generation professionals who need structured data on U.S. tax-exempt organizations.

Features

• Search by keywords — Find organizations by name, mission, or type
• Geographic filtering — Filter by state (all 50 states + DC supported)
• NTEE classification — Filter by nonprofit classification code (1-10 major groups)
• Subsection code filtering — Target specific tax statuses (e.g., 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6))
• Financial enrichment — Optionally fetch revenue, expenses, assets, and officer compensation from latest tax filing
• Structured output — JSON with all fields ready for analysis, CRM import, or database loading
• EIN numbers — Every record includes IRS Employer Identification Number for cross-referencing

Output Fields

Field	Type	Description
ein	string	IRS Employer Identification Number
name	string	Organization legal name
subName	string	Alternative or DBA name (if available)
city	string	City of principal office
state	string	State abbreviation (e.g., NY, CA)
nteeCode	string	National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities code
subsectionCode	string	Tax code subsection (e.g., 3 for 501(c)(3))
latestFiscalYear	number	Year of most recent tax filing
totalRevenue	number	Total revenue from latest Form 990
totalExpenses	number	Total functional expenses
totalAssets	number	Total assets at end of fiscal year
officerCompensation	number	Total officer/key employee compensation
profileUrl	string	Link to ProPublica profile page

How to Scrape IRS 990 Nonprofit Data

Step 1: Provide Search Parameters

Open the Input tab and configure:

• Search Term — Organization name or type (e.g., "foundation", "healthcare", "education")
• State — Optional 2-letter code (e.g., "NY", "CA")
• NTEE Major Group — Optional classification (1-10; see NTEE guide)
• Subsection Code — Optional (e.g., 3 for 501(c)(3) orgs)
• Enrich with Financial Data — Toggle to fetch financial details (adds compute time)
• Max Results — Number of organizations (default 100, max 2000)

Step 2: Run the Scraper

Click Start to begin. The actor will:

1. Query ProPublica API with your filters
2. Paginate through all matching results (up to max)
3. If enrichment enabled, fetch detailed financial data for each org
4. Output all results as JSON to the dataset

Step 3: Export or Analyze

Results appear in the Dataset tab. Export as:

• JSON — For APIs and databases
• CSV — For spreadsheets and CRM systems
• Excel — For offline analysis

Example Inputs

Foundation networks in New York:

{
  "searchTerm": "foundation",
  "state": "NY",
  "maxResults": 500,
  "enrichFinancials": true
}

Educational institutions nationwide:

{
  "searchTerm": "school",
  "nteeMajorGroup": 2,
  "enrichFinancials": true,
  "maxResults": 1000
}

Small nonprofits in California (501(c)(3)):

{
  "searchTerm": "nonprofit",
  "state": "CA",
  "subsectionCode": 3,
  "enrichFinancials": false,
  "maxResults": 200
}

Example Output

{
  "ein": "131556401",
  "name": "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation",
  "subName": null,
  "city": "Seattle",
  "state": "WA",
  "nteeCode": "T20",
  "subsectionCode": "3",
  "latestFiscalYear": 2023,
  "totalRevenue": 2344944000,
  "totalExpenses": 2100000000,
  "totalAssets": 75000000000,
  "officerCompensation": 5200000,
  "profileUrl": "https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/131556401",
  "score": 1.0
}

Pricing

$0.003 per organization extracted

• No hidden charges beyond standard Apify compute
• Financial enrichment adds ~300ms per org (automatically factored into compute cost)
• Pagination and filtering are included

Cost Examples

• 100 orgs without enrichment: ~$0.30
• 100 orgs with enrichment: ~$0.45 (includes additional API calls)
• 1,000 orgs with enrichment: ~$4.50

Use Cases

Lead Generation

Export databases of foundations by geography, asset size, and giving focus for fundraising research.

Nonprofit Analysis

Compare revenue, expense ratios, and officer compensation across peer institutions.

Academic Research

Study nonprofit distribution by geography, NTEE category, and fiscal health.

Grant Research

Identify funders and grantees in specific sectors (health, education, environment, etc.).

Due Diligence

Verify nonprofit status, location, and financial health of organizations.

Other Scrapers

• SEC Edgar Scraper — Extract public company financial filings (10-K, 10-Q)
• HRSA Health Centers Scraper — Scrape federally qualified health center directory

FAQ

Q: What data sources does this use?
A: The ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, which mirrors data from the IRS Form 990 filings.

Q: How current is the data?
A: Form 990 filings are typically submitted within 5 months of fiscal year end, so current data is 6-18 months old depending on organizational fiscal year.

Q: Can I filter by revenue or asset size?
A: Not directly via the input form, but you can export all results and filter locally in Excel or via your backend.

Q: What if an organization has no financial data?
A: Financial fields will be null if the organization has not filed a Form 990 (e.g., very new or inactive orgs, or exempt nonprofits below the filing threshold).

Q: Is enrichment worth it?
A: If you need financial metrics for analysis or filtering, yes. If you only need organization names and locations, disable it to save time and cost.

Q: Can I resume a run if it times out?
A: The actor saves progress incrementally. If it times out mid-run, you can start a new run with the same inputs and continue from where it left off (results won't duplicate due to dataset deduplication).

Q: How many results can I get?
A: Maximum 2,000 per run. For larger datasets, run multiple searches with different filters (by state, NTEE code, etc.).

Legal Disclaimer

This actor scrapes publicly available data from ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer API. Use of this data is subject to:

• ProPublica's Terms of Service — See https://www.propublica.org/
• IRS Data Terms — Form 990 data is public record but subject to IRS privacy rules (no personal identifying information of individuals)
• Responsible Use — Do not use data for harassment, discrimination, or violation of any laws

Always respect the source API's rate limits and usage terms. This actor includes appropriate delays to avoid overwhelming the API.

Support

For issues, suggestions, or questions:

• Check ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer documentation: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/
• Review NTEE classifications: https://nccs.urban.org/publication/irs-form-990-n-data
• Contact seatsignal on Apify Community

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Scraping nonprofit data for researchers, fundraisers, and analysts.