# Nonprofit Lookup — US Charity Search & 990 Financials (`oneshotventure/nonprofit-lookup`) Actor

Searches US nonprofits and retrieves their latest available Form 990 financials.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/oneshotventure/nonprofit-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Nick](https://apify.com/oneshotventure) (community)
- **Categories:** Agents, Developer tools, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Nonprofit Lookup — US Charity Search, EIN & Form 990 Data

Search **US nonprofits by name and state**, or look one up by **EIN**, and get the latest Form 990
financials attached — revenue, expenses, assets, officer compensation and a link to the filing PDF.
IRS data through the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API. No key, no login.

### What does this Actor do?

There are two separate questions people ask about a charity: *does this organization exist and who is
it*, and *what do its finances look like*. ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer answers them at two
different endpoints — a search index that returns identity only, and a per-organization endpoint that
returns the filing history.

This Actor joins them. You search by name; it takes each match, calls the organization endpoint,
walks the filings that actually contain data, picks the one with the **newest tax period year**, and
attaches those financials to the identity record. One row per organization, with the money already on
it.

The joining is optional and costed accordingly: set `includeFinancials: false` and you get identity
records with the financial fields `null` and no per-organization calls at all, which is much faster
when you only need to resolve names to EINs.

If one organization's detail call fails, that organization is still emitted with whatever identity
data the search returned, and the failure is recorded as a diagnostic. One bad EIN never sinks a
batch.

### Who is it for?

- **Donors and family offices** doing due diligence before giving.
- **Grant writers and development teams** sizing a peer organization or a potential funder.
- **Journalists and researchers** pulling structured 990 figures instead of reading PDFs.
- **B2B vetting and compliance teams** confirming a counterparty's nonprofit status and scale.
- **AI agent builders** who want a charity-lookup tool with a stable output schema.

### Use cases

- Check a charity's revenue, expenses and officer compensation before making a donation.
- Resolve a list of organization names to EINs for a CRM or grants database.
- Compare peer nonprofits in one state by total revenue and assets.
- Pull the Form 990 PDF link for an organization you need to read in full.
- Pair it with a grants feed: find who funds an area, then look up the funders' financials.
- Give an agent a tool that answers "how big is this charity, and what did it report?"

### What you get

One row per organization. Any value the source does not publish is `null` — the field is always
present, and the untouched source record stays in `raw`.

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `ein` | string | Employer Identification Number, formatted `XX-XXXXXXX` |
| `name` | string | Organization name as filed with the IRS |
| `city` | string | City |
| `state` | string | Two-letter state code |
| `nteeCode` | string | NTEE code classifying the organization's activity |
| `subsectionCode` | string | IRS subsection code, e.g. `3` for a 501(c)(3) |
| `latestFilingYear` | integer | Tax period year of the newest filing that contained data |
| `totalRevenue` | integer | Total revenue reported on that filing, in USD |
| `totalExpenses` | integer | Total functional expenses reported on that filing, in USD |
| `totalAssets` | integer | Total assets at end of year on that filing, in USD |
| `officerCompensation` | integer | Compensation of current officers reported on that filing, in USD |
| `form990PdfUrl` | string | Link to the PDF of that Form 990 filing |
| `propublicaUrl` | string | Link to the organization's page on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer |
| `raw` | object | The complete original organization record, unmodified |
| `retrievedAt` | string | ISO 8601 timestamp of when this row was fetched |

All six financial fields are `null` together when `includeFinancials` is `false`, or when an
organization has no filing that contains data.

#### Sample output record

```json
{
  "ein": "53-0196605",
  "name": "AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS",
  "city": "WASHINGTON",
  "state": "DC",
  "nteeCode": "P20",
  "subsectionCode": "3",
  "latestFilingYear": 2024,
  "totalRevenue": 3821000000,
  "totalExpenses": 3654000000,
  "totalAssets": 4102000000,
  "officerCompensation": 6284119,
  "form990PdfUrl": "https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/download-filing?path=…",
  "propublicaUrl": "https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/530196605",
  "raw": { "ein": 530196605, "…": "…" },
  "retrievedAt": "2026-08-23T10:44:52.019Z"
}
```

### How to use it

#### Search by name and state

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "red cross",
  "state": "DC",
  "maxResults": 5
}
```

#### Look one up by EIN

The EIN is accepted with or without the dash.

```json
{
  "mode": "detail",
  "ein": "53-0196605"
}
```

#### Resolve a batch of names, identity only

Turning financials off skips the per-organization call, which is much faster for a long list.

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "queries": ["red cross", "habitat for humanity", "feeding america"],
  "includeFinancials": false,
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

### Input parameters

| Input | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `search` finds nonprofits by name; `detail` retrieves one by EIN. Default: `search` |
| `ein` | string | Required for detail mode. Nine digits, with or without the dash |
| `query` | string | One organization name to search when `queries` is empty |
| `queries` | array | Optional batch of names. When provided, this list is used instead of `query` |
| `state` | string | Optional two-letter US state filter. Search mode only |
| `includeFinancials` | boolean | Fetch the detail endpoint for each search result to attach financials. Default: `true` |
| `maxResults` | integer | Maximum records returned across the search (1–100). Default: `10` |

### Honest limitations

- **This is a lookup, not a monitor.** There is no watermark and no change feed — each run answers the
  query you gave it.
- **Search reads the first page of results per query.** ProPublica paginates its search; this Actor
  requests one page per query, so a single broad name search returns roughly the first 25 matches, not
  every match. To go wider, pass several more specific names in `queries` — results are merged and
  de-duplicated by EIN.
- **`includeFinancials: true` costs one extra request per result**, rate-limited to be a good citizen
  of a free public API. A 50-result run therefore takes a while. Turn it off when you only need
  identity.
- **"Latest" filing means latest *available*.** Nonprofits file 990s months after their tax year ends
  and the IRS releases them later still, so `latestFilingYear` is routinely one to two years behind
  the present. Always read the figures against that year, not as current.
- **Filings without financial data are skipped** when choosing the latest filing, so
  `latestFilingYear` can be older than the organization's most recent filing of any kind.
- **A detail miss is not a run failure.** In search mode the un-enriched record is still emitted and a
  diagnostic is recorded. In detail mode, an EIN with no organization succeeds with zero dataset rows
  and a `NOT_FOUND` entry in `RUN_SUMMARY`.
- **Street address and ZIP are not normalized fields.** Where the detail endpoint publishes them they
  are present inside `raw`.
- **US 501(c) organizations only**, as covered by IRS filings. Foreign charities and organizations
  that do not file a 990 are not in this data.
- **Financial figures are as the organization reported them.** They are not audited by this Actor,
  by ProPublica or by the IRS at the point of publication.

### Reliability

Per-query and per-EIN diagnostics are written to the `RUN_SUMMARY` key-value record — never into your
dataset. Failures carry structured reason codes. The Actor identifies itself and rate-limits its
requests.

Every record carries `retrievedAt`, a `propublicaUrl` back to the source page and, where a filing was
found, a `form990PdfUrl` to the filing itself — so you can check any row against the original 990.

Maintained against the upstream API. If ProPublica changes its schema or an endpoint moves, report it
through the Issues tab and it gets fixed.

### Integrations

Connect this Actor to Make, Zapier, n8n, Slack, Google Sheets, Airtable or any HTTP endpoint through
Apify integrations. A run can push resolved organizations straight into a CRM or grants database, or
fire a webhook when a batch completes. Datasets export as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS or HTML.

### API usage

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/oneshotventure~nonprofit-lookup/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"mode": "search", "query": "red cross", "state": "DC", "maxResults": 5}'
```

Python, JavaScript, PHP and CLI clients are documented under
[Apify API clients](https://docs.apify.com/api/client).

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor is callable from any MCP-compatible client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code or your own agent —
through the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp). The input schema is
fully described and every record uses one stable, flat JSON shape, so an agent can call it and read
the result without a parsing step. Because it reads IRS filing data through ProPublica's official API
rather than a rendered page, the answer an agent gets is the same one the source publishes — and
`form990PdfUrl` gives the agent the filing itself to fetch when the summary figures are not enough.

*Factual filing data. Not financial, tax or charitable-giving advice.*

### Frequently asked questions

#### Is there a free Form 990 API?

Yes — ProPublica publishes the Nonprofit Explorer API over IRS Form 990 data, free and without a key.
This Actor is the search-and-enrich layer that joins the identity search to the filing financials.

#### How do I look up a nonprofit by EIN?

Run in `detail` mode with the nine-digit number in `ein`, with or without the dash. An EIN with no
matching organization returns zero rows and a `NOT_FOUND` diagnostic rather than failing the run.

#### How do I check a charity before donating?

Search by name, keep `includeFinancials` on, and read `totalRevenue`, `totalExpenses`, `totalAssets`
and `officerCompensation` against `latestFilingYear`. Open `form990PdfUrl` for the full filing. This
Actor reports what was filed; it does not rate or score charities.

#### How current are the financials?

They come from the newest filing that contains data, which is typically one to two tax years behind
the present because of IRS filing and release timelines. `latestFilingYear` tells you exactly which
year you are looking at.

#### What is an NTEE code?

The National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities code, which classifies what a nonprofit does — `P20` for
human services, `B` codes for education, and so on. It is returned on every record as `nteeCode`.

#### Why are the financial fields empty?

Either `includeFinancials` was set to `false`, or the organization has no filing on record that
contains financial data. Both are normal.

#### Can I export the whole nonprofit database?

No, and please do not try. This Actor is a per-query lookup tool by design — see the data-source note
below. Bulk IRS data is published separately by the IRS itself if that is what you need.

#### Does it cover charities outside the United States?

No. The data is IRS Form 990 filings, so coverage is US tax-exempt organizations only.

### Data source and attribution

Data from the [ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/).
This actor is not affiliated with ProPublica or the IRS. ProPublica data may not be resold as-is in
bulk; this actor is a per-query lookup tool.

Every record links back to its ProPublica organization page in `propublicaUrl`. If you publish or
redistribute anything derived from these records, credit ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer as the
source, and review
[ProPublica's API terms](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/) before building a
commercial workflow on top of it.

### Related actors

- [Grants.gov Monitor](https://apify.com/oneshotventure/grants-feed) — new US federal grant
  opportunities by keyword and agency.
- [Business Entity Search API](https://apify.com/oneshotventure/entity-search) — official company
  records from SEC EDGAR, UK Companies House and the Australian Business Register.
- [SAM.gov Contract Opportunities & Awards Feed](https://apify.com/oneshotventure/sam-feed) — US
  federal contract opportunities and awards.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

search finds nonprofits by name; detail retrieves one nonprofit by EIN.

## `ein` (type: `string`):

Required for detail mode. Enter nine digits, with or without the dash.

## `query` (type: `string`):

One nonprofit name to search when queries is empty.

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Optional batch of names. When provided, this list is used instead of query.

## `state` (type: `string`):

Optional two-letter US state filter.

## `includeFinancials` (type: `boolean`):

Fetches the detail endpoint for each returned search result.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum records returned across the search (1-100).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "red cross",
  "state": "DC",
  "includeFinancials": true,
  "maxResults": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `records` (type: `string`):

Normalized nonprofit records in the default dataset.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

Run diagnostics stored as RUN\_SUMMARY in the key-value store.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "query": "red cross",
    "state": "DC",
    "maxResults": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("oneshotventure/nonprofit-lookup").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "query": "red cross",
    "state": "DC",
    "maxResults": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("oneshotventure/nonprofit-lookup").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "red cross",
  "state": "DC",
  "maxResults": 5
}' |
apify call oneshotventure/nonprofit-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,oneshotventure/nonprofit-lookup"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/0heQuuQtXY7OmJl0M/builds/J2STvLQVYXyELAS89/openapi.json