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What small nonprofits should check and fix before a donor finds it first!!!
A prospective donor may learn about your nonprofit through a friend, an event, a social media post, or a grant application. Before making a gift, however, many donors do something simple: they search your organization online.
What they find may extend far beyond your website. Your IRS status, Form 990, nonprofit profiles, charity ratings, financial information, and online presence can all influence whether a donor sees your organization as credible and well managed.
The question is not whether every donor performs a detailed investigation. Most do not. The question is whether the information available to a curious donor supports or contradicts the story you are telling.
Here are five places donors, grantmakers, financial advisers, and other stakeholders may look, along with what your nonprofit should review.
1. IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search
The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, commonly called TEOS, is the most authoritative starting point for confirming federal tax-exempt status and whether contributions may be deductible.
Depending on the organization and available records, a visitor may be able to review:
- Whether the organization is eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions
- Form 990-series returns and Form 990-N filings
- An automatic-revocation record if the organization failed to file a required annual return or notice for three consecutive years
- Certain IRS determination letters
What your nonprofit should check
Search using both your organization’s legal name and EIN. Confirm that the name, address, filing history, deductibility status, and tax year are correct. If you recently changed your name or address, do not assume every public database updated automatically.
An incomplete filing history, an unfamiliar address, or a name that does not match your website can create unnecessary doubt even when the organization is in good standing.
2. Your Form 990
For many donors, the Form 990 is more than a tax return. It is one of the clearest public windows into your nonprofit’s finances, governance, leadership, and activities.
A reader may examine:
- Revenue sources and year-to-year changes
- Program, management, and fundraising expenses
- Executive and key employee compensation
- Board composition and governance policies
- Related party transactions
- The organization’s mission, programs, and accomplishments
- Whether the financial information is internally consistent
What your nonprofit should check
Read the completed return as a donor would, not only as a filing requirement. Make sure the program descriptions are specific, current, and understandable. Confirm that compensation, board information, fundraising costs, related organizations, and governance answers are accurate. The numbers should agree with your accounting records and, when applicable, your audited or compiled financial statements.
Do not use the Form 990 to manufacture a better looking story. Use it to tell the organization’s true story clearly. A return that is accurate, consistent, and thoughtfully prepared usually builds more confidence than one designed around a single ratio.
3. Candid (GuideStar)
GuideStar is now part of Candid, but donors and nonprofit professionals still commonly use the GuideStar name. A Candid nonprofit profile combines IRS data with information supplied directly by the organization.
Claiming and updating your profile can help you present information that a tax return alone cannot fully explain, such as your current leadership, programs, geographic reach, goals, strategies, and results. Candid’s Seals of Transparency recognize organizations that provide specified levels of public information. Candid also distributes nonprofit profile data through charitable-giving and research partners.
What your nonprofit should check
Claim the profile, verify the basics, and update it at least annually. Confirm that the mission, leadership, contact details, programs, and financial information match your current website and Form 990. If you display a Seal of Transparency, monitor its renewal requirements rather than assuming it remains current indefinitely.
4. Charity Navigator and other charity evaluators
Charity Navigator evaluates eligible nonprofits using information from the IRS, nonprofit submissions, and other sources. Its framework considers more than finances alone and may include accountability, impact, measurement, leadership, adaptability, culture, and community.
Other evaluators, including BBB Wise Giving Alliance and CharityWatch, use different standards and may cover a smaller group of organizations. A nonprofit may not be rated simply because it is too small, too new, or outside an evaluator’s coverage. Not because it has done anything wrong.
What your nonprofit should check
Search for your organization and understand what is and is not being measured. If a profile contains an error, follow the evaluator’s correction process. If you are unrated, explain your transparency in other ways: publish current financial information, keep your Candid profile updated, describe measurable outcomes, and make it easy for donors to ask questions.
Most importantly, do not chase a rating by making poor operating decisions. A healthy nonprofit still needs adequate administration, technology, accounting, insurance, fundraising, compliance, and staff support. Low overhead by itself is not proof of high impact.
5. Your website and broader online footprint
Your website is the source you control most directly and often the place where a donor decides whether to continue researching or make a gift.
A credible nonprofit website should make it easy to find:
- A clear mission and description of whom you serve
- Current programs and evidence of results
- Board and leadership information
- A secure donation page
- Current contact information
- Financial statements, annual reports, or a link to recent Forms 990
- A privacy policy and an explanation of how donor information is handled
Donors may also review search results, news coverage, social media activity, online reviews, state charity-registration information, and whether the organization’s address and leadership are consistent across platforms.
What your nonprofit should check
Search your legal name, common name, EIN, executive director, and website domain in a private browser window. Look beyond the first result. Test your donation page on a phone, check for broken links, and confirm that old staff names, programs, addresses, and financial reports have been removed or updated.
Complete a simple annual donor view audit
At least once a year and after a major name, address, leadership, or fiscal-year change complete this review:
- Search the organization in IRS TEOS and save the results.
- Download the most recent public Form 990 and read it from a donor’s perspective.
- Update the Candid profile and applicable transparency information.
- Review Charity Navigator and any other evaluator profile that appears in search results.
- Search the organization online and compare every major result with the website.
- Create a short correction list with an owner and due date for each item.
This is not merely a marketing exercise. Conflicting public information often reveals an underlying accounting, tax, governance, or recordkeeping problem that should be corrected.
The bottom line
Donor confidence is built through consistency. Your website, Form 990, IRS record, nonprofit profiles, financial reports, and impact statements should tell the same basic story.
You do not need to look like a large national charity. You do need to show that your organization is legitimate, current, transparent, and responsible with the resources entrusted to it.
Before your next fundraising campaign, look at your nonprofit through a donor’s eyes. What they find before they give may be just as important as the appeal that brought them to you.
Need help making sure your financial story is accurate?
Your bookkeeping, financial reports, and Form 990 should tell the same clear and consistent story. The NonProfit CPA works exclusively with nonprofit organizations, providing specialized bookkeeping, accounting, Form 990 preparation, CFO support, and audit preparation.
If your nonprofit’s financial information is outdated, inconsistent, or difficult to explain, we can help you identify the gaps and put the right systems in place.
Schedule a consultation with The NonProfit CPA to learn how we can help your organization build stronger financial records and greater donor confidence.
