Library: Not-for-Profit Companies: Financial Information

Financial statements

Nonprofit organizations must file an annual Form 990 with the IRS. The form summarizes finances, lists board members with salaries of top officers, and provides other general information. Nonprofits are required to share their 990 forms by posting on the web or providing information during business hours. Most are now becoming available on the web at Guidestar.org, at the web sites of individual organizations, and at other association sites.
Depending on the type of nonprofit (or "not for profit"), they may also file an annual report with the Secretary of State's Office, Department of Corporations. You can request these reports directly from the State when they are not online. However, some states make annual reports available online.
Another interesting fact is that annual reports from an organization will usually provide information and details not in the official federal and state filings, whereas, the official filings may provide details not in annual reports. What to use could depend on what you want to know.
Various laws regulate where and when reports must be filed, what they must contain, and how the reports must be distributed, and this in turn depends on the type of nonprofit in question. The IRS website has further detailed explanations about types of nonprofits.

Tax Exempt Organization Search/ Bulk Data Downloads
This data and files were produced by the IRS, and was most recently updated in December 2020.
Data downloads are available for the following series: the most recent list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions; the revocation date of organizations that have lost their tax exempt status (tax exempt organizations lose that status by not filing their required annual information return or notice for three consecutive years); all 990-N (e-Postcard) filings; and all Form 990 Series filings.

Foundation Center
NOZA
Provides free access to a database of 990-PF tax returns. Contains publicly available data received from the IRS.
ERI: Economic Research Institute
Consists of 2,000,000 Form 990, 990PF, and 990EZ reports. These "photos" of IRS returns are processed (changed to text) at the rate of 60,000 per month.