How to Tell If a Nonprofit Is Legit Before You Donate

To tell if a nonprofit is legit before you donate, start with the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) to confirm federal tax-exempt status, then check that the group is registered to solicit in your state, review its most recent Form 990 for how it spends money, and watch for pressure tactics or vague answers about programs. Federal recognition alone does not tell you whether an organization spends donations responsibly, files its required disclosures, or is even authorized to fundraise where you live. A few minutes across two or three databases usually settles the question.

Red Flags That Should Stop You Before You Give

Some fundraising behavior is a scam signal on its own. The Federal Trade Commission points to a short list of tactics fraudulent fundraisers rely on:¹

Pressure to give immediately. Legitimate charities do not demand a decision on the spot.
Requests for cash, gift cards, or wire transfers. Real nonprofits take checks and credit cards. Anyone asking for gift cards is stealing from you.
Vague descriptions of how the money will be used. Emotional appeals with no specifics about programs or outcomes.
A name that sounds almost like a well-known charity. Fraudsters deliberately pick names a word or two off from established groups.

Any one of these is reason to stop and verify. Even without an obvious red flag, running an unfamiliar organization through the checks below is worth the time.

Confirm Federal Tax-Exempt Status

The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is the definitive way to confirm whether an organization is recognized as tax-exempt under federal law.² The tool pulls from several databases, including Publication 78, which lists organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.³ Through TEOS you can also pull an organization’s Form 990 filings, its determination letter, and any record of automatic revocation.

To earn 501(c)(3) status, an organization must be organized and run exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, educational, or similar purposes, with no earnings benefiting private individuals and no involvement in political campaigns.⁴ Groups that qualify receive an IRS determination letter confirming their exempt status and whether contributions to them are deductible.⁵

One wrinkle to know: churches, synagogues, mosques, and certain other religious organizations are automatically considered tax-exempt without filing for recognition, so they may not appear in TEOS.⁵ Government entities are treated similarly. If you are verifying a house of worship, an empty TEOS result is not by itself a warning sign.³

An organization that fails to file a required annual return for three consecutive years automatically loses its tax-exempt status, and the revocation shows up in TEOS.² If a group appears on the automatic revocation list, something has gone wrong, whether the organization dissolved or its management simply stopped complying with basic federal requirements.

Not Every Nonprofit Offers a Tax Deduction

“Nonprofit” covers a wide range of organizations, and many of them cannot offer a deductible receipt. Only donations to groups with 501(c)(3) status qualify. Groups exempt under other subsections, including social welfare organizations under 501(c)(4), trade associations under 501(c)(6), and social clubs under 501(c)(7), are themselves tax-exempt, but contributions to them are not deductible.⁶

This matters because some advocacy and politically active groups hold 501(c)(4) status and fundraise aggressively. They are legitimate nonprofits, but a check to them is not a write-off. Always confirm the specific subsection, not just whether the organization is “tax-exempt.” TEOS shows this for every listed organization.

Review the Financial Filings

A nonprofit’s annual tax filings reveal more about how it operates than almost anything else. Most exempt organizations file some version of Form 990 each year, with the specific form determined by size:⁷

Form 990-N (e-Postcard) for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less.⁸
Form 990-EZ for organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000.
Form 990 for organizations with gross receipts of $200,000 or more, or total assets of $500,000 or more.
Form 990-PF for all private foundations, regardless of size.

The full Form 990 is where the useful detail lives. It breaks spending into three buckets: program expenses (money spent on the actual mission), management and general expenses, and fundraising costs. When a large share of spending goes to overhead or professional fundraisers rather than programs, that is worth a closer look. There is no universal ratio. A new organization legitimately spends more on startup costs. But an established group spending 40 cents of every dollar on fundraising is a group to ask questions about.

These filings are public records, and organizations must provide them on request. You can also find them through TEOS or third-party repositories such as Candid (formerly GuideStar). What you will not find is a list of individual donors. The IRS does not require nonprofits to publicly disclose the identities of contributors on Schedule B of their annual returns.⁹ Political organizations under section 527 are the exception; they must disclose donors who give $200 or more.

If a group you are considering has not filed a Form 990 in recent years and does not appear on the revocation list, treat that gap as a reason to keep asking before you write a check.

Check State Charity Registration

Federal tax-exempt status and state-level authorization to fundraise are two separate things. Most states require nonprofits to register with a state agency, usually the Attorney General’s office or the Secretary of State, before soliciting donations within the state. Registration involves filing incorporation documents and periodically renewing a solicitation license.

Search for the organization through the online business or charity portal maintained by your state government. Look for “Good Standing” or “Active” status, which means the group has met its filing deadlines and kept its legal authority to operate. A nonprofit that has fallen out of good standing may have lost the right to solicit in your state even if its IRS status is intact.

States can fine organizations that solicit without registering and can issue cease-and-desist orders. This is a separate accountability layer that sometimes catches problems federal oversight misses. Checking both levels is what gives you the full picture.

Look at Independent Rating Platforms

Several independent organizations evaluate nonprofits on criteria that go past bare legal compliance. These tools are most useful after you have confirmed federal and state status, because they help you separate “technically legitimate” from “actually effective.”

Charity Navigator scores organizations on financial health, accountability, and leadership. Candid assigns transparency seals based on how much financial and impact information a nonprofit voluntarily shares. Both pull from Form 990 data and add information reported by the nonprofits themselves.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance evaluates charities against 20 specific standards covering governance, finances, fundraising practices, and the accuracy of public communications.¹⁰ An organization either meets, fails, or cannot be verified against each standard. When a group refuses to cooperate with the evaluation or cannot be verified on multiple standards, that itself is information.

These platforms also flag “donor advisories” when an organization is under investigation or involved in a public controversy. No rating system is perfect, and a low score does not automatically mean fraud, but consistently poor marks across multiple platforms should give you pause.

Evaluate Governance and Transparency

How an organization presents itself publicly says a lot about whether it is run professionally. Start with the board of directors. A legitimate nonprofit lists its board members on its website or in its Form 990. The IRS has noted that a well-governed public charity should have a majority of independent board members, meaning people who are not compensated by the organization and do not have financial conflicts of interest with it.¹¹ A board stacked with paid employees or the founder’s relatives raises questions about who is really providing oversight.

Beyond the board, look for alignment between what the organization says it does and what its financials show. A group that says it feeds the hungry should have program expenses that reflect food distribution, not just administrative salaries. Legitimate organizations publish annual reports or audited financial statements and maintain a verifiable physical address and working phone number. A P.O. box, no working contact information, and no ability to answer basic questions about programs are all reasons to keep your money in your pocket.

Crowdfunding Is Not the Same as Charity

Online fundraising on platforms like GoFundMe blurs the line between charitable giving and personal gifts, and the tax treatment is completely different. Under federal law, a “charitable contribution” means a donation to a qualifying organization, not a gift to an individual person, however sympathetic the story.¹² Money you send to a personal crowdfunding campaign is a personal gift. No tax receipt, no deduction.

Some platforms partner with registered 501(c)(3) organizations to run verified nonprofit fundraisers, and those donations can be deductible. The distinction is whether the funds are collected and distributed through a registered charity or go directly to an individual. If a deduction matters to you, verify that the fundraiser is specifically labeled as a nonprofit campaign and that you receive a written acknowledgment from the charity, not just a platform confirmation email.

How to Report a Suspicious Nonprofit

If your research turns up serious problems, or you believe an organization is operating fraudulently, several agencies want to hear about it.

IRS: File Form 13909 (Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint) to report a nonprofit that appears to be violating federal tax law. You can email it to eoclass@irs.gov or mail it to the TEGE Referrals Group in Dallas. The IRS keeps your identity confidential, though you will not receive updates on any resulting investigation.¹³
FTC: Report deceptive fundraising at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC uses these reports to investigate and pursue enforcement actions.¹⁴
Your state Attorney General: Most states have a charities bureau or consumer protection division that investigates charity fraud. The National Association of State Charity Officials maintains a directory of the responsible agency in each state at nasconet.org.

Filing with more than one agency is fine and often useful, because federal and state regulators have different tools. The IRS can revoke tax-exempt status; a state attorney general can shut down fundraising operations or pursue civil penalties.

1
Federal Trade Commission. Donating Safely and Avoiding Scams
2
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Exempt Organization Search
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Internal Revenue Service. Search for Tax Exempt Organizations
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 501 – Exemption From Tax on Corporations, Certain Trusts, Etc.
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1023 (Rev. December 2024)
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Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organization Types
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File
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Internal Revenue Service. Annual Electronic Notice (Form 990-N) for Small Organizations FAQs – Who Must File
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Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organizations Returns and Applications – Contributors Identities Not Subject to Disclosure
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Give.org. BBB Standards for Charity Accountability
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Internal Revenue Service. EO Determinations CPE – Governance
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
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Internal Revenue Service. IRS Complaint Process – Tax-Exempt Organizations
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Federal Trade Commission. Make Your Donation Count by Avoiding End-of-Year Charity Scams