Nonprofit Data Terms Explained: A Reference for Grant Writers and Researchers

Nonprofit research has its own vocabulary. If you’re a grant writer digging into foundation data, a prospect researcher building a donor profile, or a journalist investigating a nonprofit’s finances, you’ll run into terms that aren’t always self-explanatory.

This is a quick reference. Bookmark it for when you encounter something unfamiliar.

Organization identifiers

EIN (Employer Identification Number)

A nine-digit number assigned by the IRS to identify an organization, formatted as XX-XXXXXXX (e.g., 53-0196605 for the American Red Cross). Every tax-exempt organization has one. It’s the most reliable way to look up a specific nonprofit, since organization names can be inconsistent across filings and databases.

NTEE code

A classification code from the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities system. The first character is a letter (A-Z) representing a broad category, followed by a number for the subcategory. For example, “K30” means Food Programs, Banks, and Pantries.

NTEE codes are useful for filtering — when you want to find all education nonprofits in a state, for example, you’d filter for NTEE codes starting with “B.”

For a deeper dive, see What Are NTEE Codes?

Subsection code

The section of the Internal Revenue Code under which the organization is tax-exempt. The most common:

• 501(c)(3): Charitable, religious, educational, scientific organizations. This is the vast majority of what people think of as “nonprofits.” Donations are tax-deductible.
• 501(c)(4): Social welfare organizations. Can do more lobbying than c3s. Donations are not tax-deductible.
• 501(c)(6): Business leagues, chambers of commerce, trade associations.

There are 29 subsection types in total, but c3, c4, and c6 cover the vast majority of organizations.

IRS forms

Form 990

The annual information return filed by most tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts above $200,000 or total assets above $500,000. Contains detailed financial statements, officer compensation, program descriptions, and governance information.

Form 990-EZ

A shorter version of the 990 for smaller organizations — those with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000. Contains less detail but covers the same basic financial information.

Form 990-PF

Filed by private foundations. Includes detailed investment reporting, minimum distribution calculations, and — most importantly for grant researchers — a complete list of every grant paid or approved in Part XV.

For the full comparison, see 990-PF vs 990: What’s the Difference?

Form 990-N (e-Postcard)

A bare-minimum electronic filing for very small organizations (gross receipts under $50,000). Contains only the organization’s name, address, EIN, and a confirmation that receipts are under the threshold. No financial data.

Schedules

Schedules are attachments to the main 990 form that provide additional detail on specific topics.

Schedule I: Grants to organizations

Lists grants made by the filing organization to other US organizations and governments. Includes recipient name, EIN, city, state, amount, and purpose. This is one of the most valuable data sources for grant researchers — it tells you exactly where an organization is directing its grantmaking.

Schedule B: Contributors

Lists the organization’s major contributors. This schedule is not public for most organizations. The IRS collects it but does not release contributor names and addresses to the public. You won’t find this data in any public database. (The exception: 527 political organizations must publicly disclose their Schedule B.)

Schedule D: Supplemental financial statements

Additional detail on investments, land and buildings, endowment funds, and other assets. Useful for understanding a foundation’s investment portfolio.

Schedule J: Compensation information

Detailed compensation for officers, directors, and key employees, including base pay, bonus, deferred compensation, nontaxable benefits, and expense accounts. Filed when an organization reports total compensation above certain thresholds.

Schedule O: Supplemental information

A catch-all for additional explanations that don’t fit elsewhere. Organizations use this to explain unusual transactions, governance decisions, or program activities in more detail.

Financial terms

Gross receipts

Total income before any expenses. The IRS uses this number to determine which form an organization must file (990, 990-EZ, or 990-N).

Program service revenue

Income earned through mission-related activities — hospital patient fees, tuition, ticket sales, government service contracts. This is earned income, not donations.

Net assets (fund balances)

Total assets minus total liabilities. The nonprofit equivalent of equity. Reported at both beginning of year (BOY) and end of year (EOY) — comparing the two shows whether the organization’s financial position improved during the year.

Functional expenses

The 990 requires organizations to break expenses into three categories: program services (mission work), management and general (overhead), and fundraising. This breakdown appears in Part IX.

Grant research terms

Funder

The organization making a grant. In 990-PF data, this is the filing organization. In Schedule I data, this is also the filing organization.

Grantee (recipient)

The organization receiving a grant. Listed by name, city, state, and sometimes EIN in the filing.

Grant purpose

A brief description of why the grant was made, as reported by the funder. Examples: “general operating support,” “scholarship program,” “capital campaign.” The specificity varies widely — some foundations provide detailed descriptions, others write “charitable purposes.”

Award amount

The dollar amount of the grant. In 990-PF Part XV, this is reported per grant. In Schedule I, cash and non-cash amounts may be reported separately.

Data source terms

IRS BMF (Business Master File)

The IRS’s master list of all tax-exempt organizations. Contains basic information: name, EIN, address, NTEE code, subsection, ruling date, and asset/income ranges. Updated monthly. This is where lookup tools get their organization directory data.

IRS e-File index

An index of all electronically filed 990 returns, published by the IRS on AWS. Each entry includes the EIN, tax year, form type, and a URL to download the raw XML filing. This is how data tools access actual filing data at scale.

Object ID

A unique identifier assigned to each individual filing in the IRS e-File system. Used to look up a specific return rather than an organization (which may have many filings across years).

Tax year vs. tax period

The tax year is the calendar or fiscal year the filing covers. The tax period is the specific date range (tax period begin to tax period end). Most organizations use a calendar year (January 1 to December 31), but many use fiscal years ending June 30, September 30, or other dates.

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This isn’t every term you’ll encounter, but it covers the ones that come up most often when working with nonprofit data. If you’re looking up specific organizations or searching across filings, 501(see) normalizes all of this data and makes it searchable.