How to check if a nonprofit is legitimate (EIN lookup)

Anyone can call themselves a nonprofit. Before you give, especially monthly, it is worth ten minutes to confirm that the organization is registered, in good standing, and doing what it says. Most of that is public record, and the starting point is the organization's EIN.

Step 1: Get the EIN

An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is the nine-digit tax ID the IRS assigns to every organization, written as 12-3456789. Legitimate nonprofits publish it: look on the donation page, the footer of the website, the annual report, or a past receipt. If an organization soliciting money will not give you its EIN, stop there. If you only have the name, you can still search by name in the tools below, but the EIN avoids confusing two similarly named groups.

Step 2: Confirm 501(c)(3) status with the IRS

The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is the source of truth. Enter the EIN and check three things:

• It appears in the Publication 78 list, which means the IRS recognizes it as eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
• It is not on the automatic revocation list. Organizations that fail to file returns for three years lose their status, and some keep soliciting anyway.
• The name and city match the organization you are looking at, not a similarly named group elsewhere.

An organization that is a 501(c)(4), (c)(6), or another type may be entirely legitimate, but donations to it are generally not tax-deductible. Fiscal sponsorship (a project operating under another charity's EIN) is also common and legitimate; you just need to know which organization is legally receiving your gift.

Step 3: Read the Form 990

Nonprofits above a small size file an annual Form 990 with the IRS, and it is public. ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, Candid (GuideStar), and the IRS search all host them for free. Ten minutes with the most recent 990 tells you:

• Revenue and expenses, and whether the organization is roughly breaking even.
• How much goes to programs versus fundraising and administration. Low overhead is not automatically good and high overhead is not automatically bad, but a group spending most of its money on fundraising deserves a question.
• Executive compensation, listed by name.
• Whether the organization has filed at all in recent years. A gap is a warning sign.

Very small organizations file a 990-N postcard with almost no detail. That is normal for a group with under $50,000 in revenue, and it means you will need to rely more on the next two steps.

Step 4: Check state registration

Most states require charities that solicit donations to register with the attorney general or secretary of state, and many publish a searchable database. A state search can turn up enforcement actions, lapsed registrations, and complaints that the federal record does not show. Search "[your state] charity registration search" to find it.

Step 5: Look for real activity

Records show that an organization exists. Activity shows that it works. Look for recent, specific updates: a program report with numbers, a named staff member, an event that happened, a photo that was not a stock image. Check that the website has a physical address and that the address is real. Search the name plus "scam" or "complaint." None of these is proof on its own, but an organization that is registered, filing, and visibly doing things is almost always what it claims to be.

Red flags that end the conversation

1. Pressure to give right now, especially by phone or text.
2. A name almost identical to a well-known charity.
3. A request for payment by gift card, wire, or cryptocurrency only.
4. No EIN, no 990, or an EIN that returns nothing in the IRS search.
5. A tax-deductibility claim for an organization that is not a 501(c)(3).

How giving platforms fit in

Platforms that list nonprofits usually start from the IRS master file, so every organization shown has a valid EIN and recognized status at the time it was loaded. That is a good floor, not a substitute for looking. Good Crowd, for example, lists only IRS-recognized 501(c)(3)s and shows each one's EIN, location, mission, and the revenue and founding year from its public filings, so you can take the EIN straight to the IRS search yourself before you add an organization to your monthly giving.