Exempt Organizations Search

[Burke]

IRS has a newly updated feature on its website to do a search for exempt organizations for which tax-deductible contributions can be made. I am having a little difficulty in using it to find one organization in particular. By that I mean, I can get every organization in my city/county, etc. but if I input the name of a well-known organization -- let's just say National Rifle Association, I get 71,000+ hits and none of them appear to be what I am looking for. Is there a way to search by inputting one name? And there does not seem to be an explanation of the codes. It says position cursor over the "explanation" column, but all I get is a big question mark. PS: I know NRA contributions are not deductible. I would love to be able to print out something, however, for TP's who want to argue the point about various and sundry 501(c)(4)'s, etc.

[JG EA]

You did better than I did - I couldn't even get into it - went round in a circle.

[Burke]

I got there by clicking on a link from the most recent newsletter from NATP. Then I bookmarked the page in my computer. Will try to post the link.

It's long: http://www.irs.gov/charities/article...9767%2c00.html

[JohnH]

Guidestar can be a good resource as well, depending upon what exactly you're looking for.

http://www2.guidestar.org/

[taxmandan]

The IRS did purge the records after the 3 year no file rule was implemented, perhaps the one org. you are looking for is no longer a 501(c)_ ?

[taxea]

IRS has a newly updated feature on its website to do a search for exempt organizations for which tax-deductible contributions can be made. I am having a little difficulty in using it to find one organization in particular. By that I mean, I can get every organization in my city/county, etc. but if I input the name of a well-known organization -- let's just say National Rifle Association, I get 71,000+ hits and none of them appear to be what I am looking for. Is there a way to search by inputting one name? And there does not seem to be an explanation of the codes. It says position cursor over the "explanation" column, but all I get is a big question mark. PS: I know NRA contributions are not deductible. I would love to be able to print out something, however, for TP's who want to argue the point about various and sundry 501(c)(4)'s, etc.

Did you try the search with the city included? NRA Honolulu. Don't know if this will work but it's worth a try

[Koss]

IRS Website

As I read it, the IRS website only allows you to search for organizations that meet one of the following criteria:

Are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions
Were automatically revoked
Have filed Form 990-N (e-Postcard)

The NRA doesn't fit into any of these categories. It's not going to come up in a search.

It is an exempt organization, but it's not in this particular database.

The NRA website has an online form for donations. It says that donations are not tax deductible. Here's the link:

https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/donate.asp

BMK

[JG EA]

Guidestar can be a good resource as well, depending upon what exactly you're looking for.
http://www2.guidestar.org/

Guidestar wins - I had forgotten about it. I still went around in circles on the IRS site.

[Burke]

As I read it, the IRS website only allows you to search for organizations that meet one of the following criteria:

Are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions
Were automatically revoked
Have filed Form 990-N (e-Postcard)

The NRA doesn't fit into any of these categories. It's not going to come up in a search.
It is an exempt organization, but it's not in this particular database.
BMK

That is what I suspected. Only eligible ones are in the database. So if I have a suspect org, and it doesn't show up, no deduction. Usually the individual websites give me that info if I manage to get to ther "donations" page and many have tax-deductible foundations, but the ck has to be made payable to the foundation. The Fraternal Order of Police is a major one people put down.

[ChEAr$]

iI gave up on that IRS web site purporting to be the publication 78 base.

Instead I did a Google search for the organization and relied on it's official web site
which proclaims 501c3. Due diligence. grin

[Koss]

IRS Website

The consensus seems to be that Guidestar is a better bet.

But if you're curious...

The trick to finding an organization that IS in the IRS database is that you need to use quote marks.

Try searching for American Cancer Society, and you get garbage. I think you get every organization that has any one of the three words in its name.

Put it in quotes and you get ten hits. Number one is the main organization in Atlanta.

BMK

[Burke]

iI gave up on that IRS web site purporting to be the publication 78 base.

Instead I did a Google search for the organization and relied on it's official web site
which proclaims 501c3. Due diligence. grin

That's what I had been doing. I thought a central database provided by the IRS would be easier. Maybe not.

[Burke]

The consensus seems to be that Guidestar is a better bet.

But if you're curious...
The trick to finding an organization that IS in the IRS database is that you need to use quote marks.
Try searching for American Cancer Society, and you get garbage. I think you get every organization that has any one of the three words in its name.
Put it in quotes and you get ten hits. Number one is the main organization in Atlanta.
BMK

Thanks for the hint. Will give it a shot. Do you know how to find the codes?

[death&taxes]

Anyone know how up to date the database is?

Had a client yesterday with a huge deduction for donated goods to a local organization that I had never heard of before. I contacted the "Thrift Shop" asking for the official name, address and EIN # so I could verify the deductibility of the "donation". Client had a receipt. Thrift shop guys said they'd get back to me and that the organization only started last April. I got the strong impression that this was NOT a legit charity.


When searching the database - probably the easiest way to narrow down the field would be to get the EIN #.

[Lion]

Web Site

If your thrift shop or its parent has a web site, that might have the legal name or enough information about its founding to identify it so you can confirm its eligibility via IRS or other means.