LibGuides: Finding Grey Literature: Government Documents, Technical and Nonprofit Reports: Nonprofit Organizations

Introduction to Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofit organizations, generally tax-exempt, are designed to serve a specific interest group, professional membership, or mission that is in the public interest. These organizations can produce technical reports, training materials, consumer brochures or other types of grey literature.

When referring to nonprofit publications, it is important to evaluate the objectivity and research accuracy of such materials. The link below will offer some suggestions on evaluating organizations.

Refer to the "Search Tools" tab to find online search engines for identifying nonprofit organizations. Refer to the "Evaluating Sources" tab for additional guidance on resource evaluation.

Evaluating Think Tanks
The Nonprofit Sector in the United States: A Resource Guide
This guide from the Library of Congress provides resources for researching the nonprofit sector and includes information on finding associations, datasets, statistics, management sources, and consumer information produced by nonprofit organizations..
Think Tank Search
Provided by the Harvard Kennedy School Library, this online tool searches for nonprofit research organizations by topic and geographic location. Also see the link on “Evaluating Think Tanks” for guidance on evaluating the quality of information from such organizations.

Key Nonprofit Research Organizations

Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) - Search Resources
The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) provides research, grants, data and reports on children's educational, economic, social and health outcomes.
Brookings Institute: Publication Search
Brookings researches all aspects of public policy and governance. Search their website for books, reports, essays, and testimonies.
Commonwealth Fund
The Commonwealth Fund produces state and national data reports, research briefs and surveys on key health issues. Use the Publications link to search by topic or product category.
The Hastings Center
The Hastings Center studies bioethics, including social and ethical issues in healthcare, science, and technology, and issues reports and briefings.
Issue Lab
“Explore and access free research about critical social issues from social sector organizations around the world”. Search by topic or document type to find nonprofit reports from a variety of organizations. Provided by the Foundation Center and its parent organization Candid.
Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser is a non-profit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publications
Search for open access books, reports and journals from the Academies and the Transportation Research Board.
National Bureau of Economic Research
“Private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works.”
NORC at the University of Chicago: Publications
NORC conducts research on social and economic issues. Search their collection for reports, opinion polls, surveys, conference papers and other media.
Pew Research Center
This nonpartisan think tank publishes reports, transcripts, surveys, polls and data summaries on a wide range of social, scientific and political issues. Coverage includes national and international topics.
Project HOPE: Health Affairs Policy Briefs
These policy briefs, issued by the organization Project HOPE, present overviews of key issues related to healthcare. Each brief leads to reports and other data resources regarding the issue.
RAND Corporation
RAND is a research organization working to solve policy issues. They publish information on a variety of intelligence related topics in articles, reports, and brochures.
Resources for the Future
The purpose is to improve environmental and natural resource policy making worldwide. RFF maintains an extensive collection of research studies, working papers and briefs.
Trust for America’s Health
TFAH issues research and policy reports on key public health topics, education, health data, and environmental health.
Urban Institute - Research
The Urban Institute is a research organization that produces reports, data, maps, fact sheets, and working papers related to urban social, housing, health, education, and economic issues.