Legal Nonprofit Scraper (ProPublica)

Search and extract legal aid organizations, public interest law firms, and crime/justice nonprofits from ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer — the most comprehensive free database of US nonprofit IRS filings. No API key, proxy, or credentials required.

What data can you extract?

• Organization name, EIN, address, city, state, ZIP
• NTEE legal category code (I20–I99: Crime Prevention, Legal Aid, Public Interest Law, etc.)
• Revenue and asset amounts
• IRS subsection code, ruling date, deductibility code, foundation code
• Direct link to ProPublica profile page

Use cases

• Legal research — find legal aid organizations by state
• Attorney directory research — discover nonprofit law organizations
• Grant prospecting for legal causes
• Academic research on legal services access
• Compliance and due diligence on legal nonprofits
• State-by-state analysis of legal service coverage

Modes

searchOrganizations (default)

Search legal nonprofits by keyword with optional state and NTEE category filters. Always restricts to NTEE group I (Crime & Legal).

Input:

{
  "mode": "searchOrganizations",
  "query": "legal aid",
  "state": "CA",
  "legalCategory": "I71",
  "maxItems": 50
}

organizationDetails

Fetch full details for specific organizations by EIN.

Input:

{
  "mode": "organizationDetails",
  "eins": ["13-1837418", "95-1234567"],
  "maxItems": 20
}

browseByState

Browse legal nonprofits in a specific US state.

Input:

{
  "mode": "browseByState",
  "state": "TX",
  "query": "legal services",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
mode	string	One of searchOrganizations, organizationDetails, browseByState
query	string	Keyword to search (default: "legal aid")
state	string	US state abbreviation filter (e.g., CA, NY, TX)
legalCategory	string	NTEE legal subcategory code (I20–I99)
eins	array	EIN list for organizationDetails mode
maxItems	integer	Maximum results (1–500, default 20)

NTEE legal category codes

Code	Category
I20	Crime Prevention
I30	Correctional Facilities
I40	Rehabilitation Services
I43	Inmate Support
I44	Prisoner Release Programs
I50	Administration of Justice
I60	Law Enforcement
I70	Legal Services
I71	Legal Aid
I72	Public Interest Law
I80	Public Safety
I83	Criminal Justice
I99	Crime & Legal (general)

Sample output

{
  "recordType": "legalNonprofit",
  "ein": "131837418",
  "strein": "13-1837418",
  "name": "Legal Aid Society",
  "city": "New York",
  "state": "NY",
  "zipCode": "10007",
  "address": "199 Water Street",
  "nteeCode": "I71",
  "revenueAmount": 150000000,
  "assetAmount": 80000000,
  "subsectionCode": "3",
  "taxPeriod": "202212",
  "rulingDate": "194908",
  "deductibilityCode": "1",
  "foundationCode": "15",
  "profileUrl": "https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/131837418",
  "sourceUrl": "https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/131837418",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00+00:00"
}

Output fields reference

Field	Type	Description
ein	string	Employer Identification Number (9 digits)
strein	string	Formatted EIN with hyphen (XX-XXXXXXX)
name	string	Organization name
subName	string	Sub-name or care-of name
city	string	City
state	string	US state abbreviation
zipCode	string	ZIP code
address	string	Street address
nteeCode	string	NTEE classification code (e.g., I71)
revenueAmount	integer	Annual revenue in USD
assetAmount	integer	Total assets in USD
subsectionCode	string	IRS subsection code (3 = 501(c)(3))
taxPeriod	string	Tax period in YYYYMM format
rulingDate	string	IRS ruling date in YYYYMM format
deductibilityCode	string	Tax deductibility code
foundationCode	string	IRS foundation code
profileUrl	string	ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer URL
sourceUrl	string	Source data URL
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when data was scraped

Data source

Data is sourced from ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer API — a completely free public API containing over 1.8 million US nonprofits from IRS 990 filings. This scraper is restricted to NTEE major group I (Crime & Legal), which covers legal aid, public interest law, crime prevention, prisoner rehabilitation, and related organizations.

No API key, proxy, login, or paid subscription is required.

Frequently asked questions

How many legal nonprofits are in the database? Thousands of organizations fall under NTEE group I. Use the state filter to narrow results to your target geography.

What is NTEE code I71? Legal Aid organizations that provide free or reduced-cost legal assistance to low-income individuals and families.

What is the difference between I71 and I72? I71 (Legal Aid) focuses on direct legal representation for low-income clients. I72 (Public Interest Law) includes organizations that use litigation or advocacy to address broader social issues.

Can I filter by both state and legal category? Yes. All three modes support simultaneous state + legalCategory filtering.

What does EIN stand for? Employer Identification Number — a 9-digit tax ID assigned by the IRS to identify nonprofit organizations. Format: XX-XXXXXXX.

How current is the data? ProPublica updates its database as new IRS filings become available, typically reflecting filings 1–2 years prior to the current date.

Are addresses always present? No — only fields with available data are returned. Some older organizations may have incomplete address data in the IRS records.