ProPublica Unveils New Tool Making It Easier to Search 3 Million Nonprofits’ Tax Filings

A new feature of ProPublica’s NonProfit Explorer database now lets you search the complete text of nearly 3 million nonprofit tax filings from 1.8 million nonprofit groups, dating back to 2011.

ProPublica’s database previously allowed users to search and download portions of these filings, such as information in key data fields and details on major players in a given organization. The new feature allows a broader look at these tax filings by opening up text that has not been machine-readable or searchable in other online nonprofit tax databases.

The database includes electronically filed nonprofit tax forms 990, 990-PF, and 990-EZ.

About two-thirds of nonprofits file their tax returns electronically. Academics, journalists, regulators, and some members of Congress have pushed to expand the number of nonprofits required to electronically file their forms in “machine-readable” formats.