Idealist Search Scraper

What does Idealist Search Scraper do?

This Apify Actor collects publicly listed nonprofit and social-impact jobs from Idealist.org. It follows a bounded set of official detail pages and emits one enriched dataset record per complete job. It uses ordinary direct access only; it does not access candidate accounts, submit applications, fetch application destinations, or bypass access controls.

Why use Idealist Search Scraper?

Use it to collect a bounded set of public job facts in one dataset, including organization, location, employment details, dates, descriptions, and public application links when Idealist exposes them. Search pages and detail candidates are capped, and browser requests are processed sequentially. The public input has no proxy setting: schema-valid runs use direct access to Idealist pages.

What data can Idealist Search Scraper extract?

The dataset schema describes more than 20 useful fields that may be populated from the public listing, detail page, or embedded JobPosting data. Job facts come from those public surfaces; the table marks normalized and Actor-generated metadata separately. Optional source-dependent fields are omitted when Idealist does not publish them. This field inventory is not a promise that every Idealist posting publishes every value.

Field	Type	Meaning
jobId	string	Idealist identifier, or the canonical job URL when no identifier is available.
resultIndex	integer	Search-candidate order assigned by the Actor.
title	string	Public job title.
organization	string or null	Organization name.
organizationUrl	URL or null	Public Idealist organization page, when present.
organizationLogo	URL or null	Published organization logo URL, when present.
listingType	string	Listing category inferred from the official Idealist job URL path.
contractType	string or null	Public employment-type label.
employmentTypes	string array	Employment-type values retained from public JobPosting data.
experienceLevel	string or null	Published experience-level text.
education	string or null	Published education requirement.
compensation	string or null	Public salary or compensation text.
listingCompensation	string	Compensation text specifically from the listing card.
detailCompensation	string	Compensation text specifically from the labeled job detail.
salary	object, string, or number	Public salary data retained in the form supplied by JobPosting content.
salaryMin	number	Minimum salary value parsed from published salary data.
salaryMax	number	Maximum salary value parsed from published salary data.
salaryCurrency	string	Published currency when available.
salaryUnit	string	Published salary period normalized to year, month, or hour.
location	string, object, or null	Public location text or structured address.
fullAddress	string or null	Readable address normalized from public location fields.
locationCity	string	City/locality from public location data.
locationRegion	string	State, province, or region from public location data.
locationCountry	string	Country from public structured location data.
postalCode	string	Postal code from public structured location data.
locationMode	string or null	Public remote, hybrid, or on-site wording when available.
locationSentence	string or null	Location sentence supplied by the page extractor.
isRemote	boolean	Derived only when public location mode explicitly indicates remote or on-site work; omitted when ambiguous (for example, hybrid).
causeAreas	string array	Public cause-area labels, when available.
postedDate	string or null	Public posted date or label.
startDate	string	Published job start date from the detail page or JobPosting data.
publishedDate	string or null	Date portion normalized from the posted-date value.
publishedSince	string or null	Relative posting-age label from the listing card.
closingDate	string or null	Published application deadline or JobPosting valid-through date.
description	string	Readable public job description.
descriptionHtml	string or null	HTML for the public description section.
descriptionFields	object	Public description headings and labeled facts extracted from the page.
sections	object	Relevant public detail-page sections keyed by normalized heading; related-job/footer content is excluded.
benefits	string	Visible benefits text when published.
responsibilities	string	Visible responsibilities text when published.
qualifications	string	Visible qualifications text when published.
educationRequirements	string	Published education requirement text.
experienceRequirements	string	Published experience requirement text.
languageRequirements	string	Published language requirements or preferences.
programAreas	string array	Program/project areas explicitly named in the public description.
scheduleRequirements	string	Published schedule or evening/weekend requirements.
transportRequirements	string	Published travel or transportation requirements.
programScope	string	Visible program-scope section, when present.
leadership	string	Visible leadership section, when present.
educationExpertise	string	Visible education-expertise section, when present.
applicationInstructions	string	Visible How to Apply instructions.
industry	string	Industry from public JobPosting data, when present.
occupationalCategory	string	Occupational category from public JobPosting data, when present.
jobCategory	string	Public detail-page or JobPosting category, when present.
workHours	string	Published work-hours value, when present.
skills	string array	Skill labels when supplied by the page extractor.
application	object	Public application metadata such as a visible external application link and label.
directApply	boolean	Included only when Idealist or JobPosting data publishes an explicit boolean.
applyUrl	URL or null	Public application URL when found; the destination is not fetched.
applicationHost	string	Hostname parsed from the public application URL.
jobUrl	URL	Canonical public Idealist job-detail page.
listingUrl	URL	Public search/listing page from which the card was collected.
source	string	Fixed source label, idealist.org.
searchData	object	Listing-card text and visible labels retained for context.
sourceData	object	Public JobPosting data and labeled detail fields retained by the mapper.
scrapedAt	date-time	Actor-generated record timestamp.

Most job facts come directly from Idealist's public page content. isRemote and publishedDate are normalized from public values; resultIndex and scrapedAt are Actor metadata. Listing and detail compensation are kept separately when both are published. A location phrase is passed to Idealist, but the Actor does not independently filter geographic results; the site may return a broader or differently ranked result set than a separate browser view. The raw description is kept separately from the structured sections and sourceData fields.

How to scrape Idealist jobs

1. Open the Actor's Input tab.
2. Enter a required job query. Optionally set a location phrase, result cap, search-page cap, timeout, or an official Idealist /en/jobs URL override.
3. Start the run and review the dataset. OUTPUT contains counts, diagnostics, and bounded direct-request receipts; RUN_HEALTH contains the compact run status.

How much will it cost to scrape Idealist?

Apify charges depend on the account plan and the resources used during a run; this Actor does not set a fixed price. Browser navigation, the number of search pages, and opening detail pages affect runtime. Raising maxItems can inspect up to five extra detail candidates beyond the requested record count when a public detail is incomplete. Requests are sequential and have no retries; a transport failure stops further navigation and records DEFERRED.

Inputs

See the Input tab for the complete configuration. query is required; startUrl, when supplied, replaces the search URL generated from query and location.

• query: required search terms, 1–200 characters, default program manager
• location: optional location phrase, default United States, at most 200 characters; passed to Idealist when startUrl is omitted, but not independently enforced by the Actor
• maxItems: maximum enriched records, 1–100, default 3
• maxDetailPages: maximum official search pages, 1–5, default 2
• timeoutSecs: navigation timeout, 20–120 seconds, default 60; the handler timeout is derived from this value
• startUrl: optional HTTPS https://www.idealist.org/en/jobs or https://idealist.org/en/jobs URL override; it replaces the generated search URL

The public schema does not expose proxyConfiguration. Search and detail pages are accessed directly.

Quick search:

{
  "query": "program manager",
  "location": "United States",
  "maxItems": 3,
  "maxDetailPages": 2,
  "timeoutSecs": 60
}

Search with a public Idealist URL override:

{
  "query": "program manager",
  "location": "United States",
  "startUrl": "https://www.idealist.org/en/jobs?q=program+manager&l=United+States",
  "maxItems": 5,
  "maxDetailPages": 3,
  "timeoutSecs": 60
}

Output

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Each dataset record contains the job ID, title, organization, official job URL, location, contract and compensation fields where available, description, structured sections, application information, source data, and scrape timestamp. Required fields are jobId, title, description, jobUrl, source, and scrapedAt.

Representative abbreviated record emitted by the Actor (description shortened; optional source fields omitted). The run's United States location phrase did not match its India-based result cards, so this example demonstrates the record shape only; location relevance remains unqualified.

{
  "jobId": "ffc768cc03b84f5dbe277cb3f921f2ae",
  "title": "ET Admin Manager + Secretary",
  "organization": "Empower Tamizhagam",
  "contractType": "Full Time",
  "employmentTypes": ["FULL_TIME"],
  "location": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "Chennai",
    "addressRegion": "TN",
    "addressCountry": "IN"
  },
  "locationMode": "On-site",
  "isRemote": false,
  "experienceRequirements": "2-7 years of experience",
  "programAreas": ["Small Business & Startups", "Public Policy", "CSR Funding", "Project Mgmt"],
  "description": "ONLY CANDIDATES CURRENTLY BASED IN CHENNAI, INDIA ...",
  "jobUrl": "https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit-job/ffc768cc03b84f5dbe277cb3f921f2ae-et-admin-manager-secretary-empower-tamizhagam-chennai",
  "listingUrl": "https://www.idealist.org/en/jobs?q=program+manager&l=United+States",
  "source": "idealist.org",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-23T04:57:28.523Z"
}

The following abbreviated OUTPUT excerpt illustrates the current status contract; it is not a rewrite of the preserved 2026-09-23 run summary, which predates resultStatus:

{
  "status": "SUCCEEDED",
  "resultStatus": "COMPLETE",
  "requestedItems": 3,
  "items": 3,
  "searchCandidates": 8,
  "searchPagesProcessed": 1,
  "queuedDetails": 3,
  "detailAttempts": 3,
  "detailSuccesses": 3,
  "detailFailures": 0,
  "requestFailures": 0,
  "searchesRequested": 1,
  "emptySearchesConfirmed": 0,
  "blocked": false,
  "accessMode": "direct",
  "proxyUsed": false,
  "diagnostics": []
}

The default key-value store exposes OUTPUT (platform status, separate resultStatus, requested and emitted counts, search/detail counters, accessMode: "direct", proxyUsed: false, bounded diagnostics, and request receipts) and RUN_HEALTH (the same status split plus compact health fields). Platform status is only SUCCEEDED or FAILED; resultStatus is COMPLETE, LIMITED, SKIPPED, DEFERRED, NO_DATA, or FAILED. An access boundary is SKIPPED only when its final response/page is confirmed on the official Idealist origin; requests stop and buffered records are discarded. A denial or challenge after an off-origin redirect is DEFERRED, not attributed to Idealist. Generic transport, ambiguous empty-page, and unverified parse outcomes are SUCCEEDED / DEFERRED when no records were stored. Genuine rows stored before a later error or access boundary remain SUCCEEDED / LIMITED. NO_DATA requires affirmative official empty-result text and zero visible job cards for every requested search, recorded in the search receipts and the searchesRequested / emptySearchesConfirmed counters. A fatal zero-row failure is FAILED / FAILED and uses the Actor failure lifecycle. Diagnostics and request receipts are written only to the key-value store, never as dataset rows.

Tips and advanced options

• Increase maxDetailPages to inspect more search pages, or increase maxItems to request more enriched records. Both settings increase browser work.
• maxDetailPages caps search pagination; detail requests are separately bounded by the requested item count plus a small candidate allowance.
• Use startUrl when you already have a public Idealist search URL. The URL must use HTTPS and the /en/jobs path.
• The Actor's public input supports direct access only and has no proxy option. Do not change routes, identities, cookies, or browser fingerprints to continue after an access barrier.
• Records omit optional values that Idealist does not publish. Missing values are not inferred as facts about the job.

FAQ, support, and responsible use

What if the result has no jobs? NO_DATA is used only when every requested search explicitly reports an empty result on the successful official Idealist page. Missing cards, unrecognized empty pages, and incomplete detail parsing are DEFERRED; check the search evidence, counters, and diagnostics in OUTPUT.

What if Idealist displays a CAPTCHA, human check, or access-denial page? The Actor stops requests, discards buffered rows, and records the run as SKIPPED with an access-boundary diagnostic. Do not try another identity, proxy, cookie set, or route to get around it.

What if a request times out or the browser cannot load a page? The Actor stops further requests and records DEFERRED with a request receipt; it does not retry or switch routes/browsers.

Where can I report an issue? Use the Actor's Issues tab and include the run ID and a short description of the behavior. The API tab provides programmatic access to the Actor and its stored output.

This Actor is not affiliated with Idealist. Collect only public job information. Respect Idealist.org terms, robots directives, rate limits, and applicable law. Do not collect candidate data, access authenticated pages, solve CAPTCHAs, or bypass paywalls and access controls. Public job pages can still contain personal information; use a lawful basis and consult qualified counsel if unsure.

Local run

For a local run from PowerShell, start in the repository root and use a new actor-relative storage directory. The command below checks that the path does not already exist, uses --resurrect, and avoids purging or reusing a prior dataset:

Set-Location .\idealist-jobs-search-scraper
$storagePath = 'storage-idealist-local-run'
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $storagePath) {
  throw "Choose a new storage path; $storagePath already exists."
}
$env:APIFY_LOCAL_STORAGE_DIR = $storagePath
try {
  apify run --resurrect --input-file .actor/input.json
} finally {
  Remove-Item Env:APIFY_LOCAL_STORAGE_DIR -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}