VIS 224: Digital Publishing: Non-Profit Information

Non-profits must submit 990 forms to the SEC in order to retain non-profit status. This is a good way to check whether or not an organization is a non-profit. There are several places you can look for this form: 

1. The non-profit's website
   • For example, the National Eating Disorders Association annual reports include 990 information
2. GuideStar may provide the 990 forms for the non-profit you are researching
3. IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is a little clunky, provides highly reliable information about the non-profit status of an organization. 

Competitors for donors dollars

Your research will include searching for the organizations that compete for your organization's donations. 

Who are these major organizations? Using the same resources you used to locate information about your organization you can search for your organization's competitors. Finding out this information will help you understand your organization even better. 

Understanding your non-profit's culture.

There are several methods to learning about and understanding your non-profit's culture. You can search Youtube for videos from your organization. You can read press releases and newspaper articles about your organization and the cause(s) it supports. 

For example to find out more about why it is important to support leukemia and lymphoma research you can go to the National Cancer Institute at http://www.cancer.gov/ and search for leukemia incidences to learn about the number of people affected by blood cancers.