Where can I find out who has donated money to a particular nonprofit organization?
According to the Web site for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS):
"Information about donors is specifically excluded from the information available for public inspection, except for donors to private foundations and political organizations."
Donors to private foundations are included in the Foundation Center's database. You can search the Trustees, Officers, and Donors field in The Foundation Directory Online or in Foundation Center print directories.
To determine which foundations may have given to a particular nonprofit organization, you can try one of the following:
- Search for the name of a specified nonprofit organization in the "Recipient Name" field in the Center's Grants Guide Series or in the Grants Database of The Foundation Directory Online. (Grants listed in the Grants Guide Series and the Grants Database of The Foundation Directory Online are selected grants of larger grants from larger foundations — typically grants of $10,000 or above from approximately the largest 1,000 foundations in the country.)
- Review the Form 990-PF or annual report (if one is available) of a particular private foundation to see its listing of grants and determine if any grants were made to the particular organization you are inquiring about. (This option works best if you have a good idea of foundations that are likely to contribute to the organization you are looking for.)
- Look for notices of grants in news resources, such as the Philanthropy News Digest (other nonprofit news Web sites can be found in our Links to Nonprofit Resources - Nonprofit News and Publications) or print publications listed in the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.
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