IRS 990 ➼ OPEN DATA ➼ ISSUE TRACKER

A place to aggregate questions about IRS 990 data access, documentation, meta-data, and inconsistencies or errors.

This is NOT a forum for questions about analyzing data.

Contributors are volunteer experts, not IRS personnel.

SUBMIT A QUESTION

The IRS has started to systematically release administrative data and meta-data related to charitable organizations. As a result individuals can now access a tremendous amount of information on a charity before donating or supporting the entity, and policy-makers have a much bigger picture on the role that these 1.5 million organizations play in the economy and society.

The data, however, is complex. And documentation is often sparse.

This site was created for two primary purposes:

(1) To document the location of IRS 990 open data assets.

(2) To organize and archive discussions around data quality, documentation, and meta-data that makes the open data useful.

IRS Nonprofit Data

Data assets that are within the scope of this forum include:

• Publication 78: Tax Exempt Organization Search (formerly Select Check)
• Business Master File: Cumulative list and attributes of all active tax-exempt organizations.
• IRS 990 Filings
  • Annual SOI Extracts: limited financial variables of all 990 filers (minus 990-N post-card filers)
  • 990 Paper Filers: returns submitted to the IRS in paper form, typically archived as PDFs
  • 990 E-Filers: downloads of all electronic 990 filers starting in 2010
  • 990-N Postcard Filers: organizations with
• Database of Tax-Exempt Revocation: list of organizations that have given-up or lost their tax exempt status
• Form 1023

Potential Issues

Common data issues include:

• Inadequate documentation
• Inadequate meta-data
• Missing files, filings, or variables
• Changes in variable definitions
• Harmonization of data over time
• Harmonization of a sample across forms

The IRS typically lacks contact information to answer questions related to administrative data that has been released to the public, so it can be challenging to find answers to these types of questions.

This forum is a place for experts and noeophytes to compare notes, share information, and contribute resources that help improve the quality and accessibility of the data.

Open Data Resources

For background reading about administrative nonprofit data and the movement to ensure it is open and free see:

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Unlocking the Potential of Open 990 Data

There are dozens of individuals and institutions that are generating high-quality and free open data from archival data released by the IRS.

Tools for Accessing Open 990 Data

For examples of how this data is moving our field forward check out the Johnson Center's helpful report:

Use Cases from Publicly Available IRS Form 990 Data

Or browse reports and guides in the Resources Folder.