For charities: how your Form 990 reads to donors, and how to respond
If your organization is on this site, its page shows figures copied from your own Form 990 filings, the same public returns anyone can read on ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer or request from you under federal law.
If a figure is wrong
Use Report a correction on your page. If our figure doesn't match your filing, it's our error and the next weekly build fixes it. If your filing was wrong, an amended return replaces the original here automatically once the IRS releases it.
If you want to add context
Use Respond on your page. Responses are public GitHub issues, linked from your page without edits. Good responses explain a number in a sentence or two (a capital campaign year, a merger, a change in how shared costs are allocated) and link to an annual report or audited statements.
What donors read first
- Part III: your program descriptions are the only place on the form where you describe results in your own words. Specific, current, measurable descriptions read better than general ones.
- Part IX allocation: document how you allocate shared costs (salaries, rent, technology) across program, management and fundraising, and apply it consistently from year to year.
- Part VI answers: if you answer "no" to a policy question, a one-line explanation in Schedule O saves readers from guessing.
- Part VII: list titles clearly, and explain unusual one-time compensation (severance, deferred compensation paid out) in Schedule J.
We don't offer paid services to charities on this site, and nothing here is accounting or legal advice.