NICAR provides the data in two ways: As a one-time purchase or a one-year subscription, updated monthly.

This database is a listing of all organizations granted tax exemption by the IRS. Because different entities are subject to different financial reporting requirements, some Asset and Income fields are complete while others are empty. The data includes the organizations name, address, contact person, total annual income, total assets, and codes describing their activities generically.

Most reporters use this database as a tipsheet to focus on specific companies in their area. Once youve got a short list, its a good idea to get the paper documents from the IRS concerning those organizations.

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• Story No. 16587: In the "Charities' Zero Sum Filing Game, " Chronicle analyzed International Revenue Service data and found that more than one-fourth of the nearly 5,000 nonprofit organizations that received $500,000 or more in gifts reported spending nothing on fund raising in the 1996 tax year.
• Story No. 17614: The Columbus Dispatch explores the Ohio High School Athletic Association's "power and priorities, driven by its increasing wealth and influence." The four-day series reveals that "the nonprofit organization, known for its by-the book enforcement of rules, operates without scrutiny." as its spends the money collected through "big-money sports tournaments and exclusive ball contracts." The investigation details how the association "has taken a hands-off approach to monitoring expenses, student transfers and academic standards affecting 225, 000 athletes throughout Ohio." The report uncovers an internal audit warning of "potentially unethical and illegal activity" and showing that "the association could be jeopardizing its tax-exempt status."
• Story No. 21676: Reporters from American Radio Works, Marketplace and a team of students from the Medill School of Journalism built a database from public records of travel disclosures made by members of Congress. They found that while lawmakers are banned from accepting gifts worth more than $50, they can, and do, accept "lavish, luxurious trips - often worth tens of thousands of dollars" from nonprofit organizations. Further reporting revealed that many of these nonprofits had lobbyists on their boards. The ten congress members who took the most trips averaged $143,000 apiece in sponsored travel.
• Story No. 21681: "When Jesse Helms pledged thousands of his papers to Wingate College in 1987, he triggered the creation of a nonprofit foundation to preserve them. Now, The Jesse Helms Center Foundation has $11 million in assets, including a $3.3 million building...But an Observer examination of the tax=exempt Center's IRE filings show that it spent far more on overhead -- more than 70 percent in some years -- and less on programs than recommended by organizations that monitor nonprofits."

• Tipsheet No. 1398: Included in this tipsheet is the basics of nonprofit reporting, what's in a 990, the difference between a public charity and a foundation, what forms different organizations file, a summary of the new disclosure rules and where to find the state charity offices. Also attached are the different IRS categories of nonprofits, and what kind of registration is required in each state
• Tipsheet No. 547: Armstrong uses IRE\'s 990 to explain the most telling document a tax- exempt organization must complete annually. Audio tape available through the IRE Resource Center at (573) 882-3364 or rescntr@ ire.org. Ask for tape #IRE96-65.