Resources from NCCS Linda Lampkin Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute Seminar on Covering Philanthropy Los Angeles, CA March 2004

National Center for Charitable Statistics -- NCCS Founded 1980; moved to Urban Institute in 1996 from Independent Sector What we do: –Nonprofit data –Classification systems –Research Work with IRS and other partners to develop and maintain high quality data on the nonprofit sector

NCCS Files 140 different data files available All tax exempt organizations -- Business Master Files from IRS Based on IRS Forms Core Files, GuideStar- NCCS Database, IRS Statistics of Income Samples Others –Unified Database of Arts Organizations; Individual Taxpayer Charitable Giving Data; List of “501(h) electors”(those that report advocacy expenses under special IRS rules)

NCCS Data Goals Produce cleaned, checked, organized datasets Make them easy to access and use Promote research and encourage use of data Provide assistance to researchers

Using the Data Geographic portraits of nonprofit sector –US –State, regional (Cape Cod) Subsector –Using classification system (NTEE) –Local Education Funds, Community Development Corporations

Using the Data Financial –US –State –City or region (Pittsburgh nonprofit expenditures on human services, compared with other comparable cities)

Using the Data Spatial analysis –Map locations of organizations in neighborhood –Contrast with needs (Census data on families with children, families with low income levels, percent of elderly) –Use to identify gaps and needs

Using the Data Study of Overhead Costs –Includes study of Forms 990, survey, case studies –Identify “zero cost” fundraising –Improve cost tracking and reporting –Clarify rules on proposal writing, joint cost, professional fundraising –See

Additional CNP Projects Interviews with foundation staff on “effective philanthropy” Guides on outcome measurement for nonprofits Nonprofits and Government Property Tax Exemptions for Nonprofits

Additional CNP Projects Analyses of Form 990-PF data –Percent of grants compared to asset size –Percent of administrative costs compared to grants –Compensation Electronic filing and electronic registration in states

Accessing the Data Simple way for researchers to access and acquire data Use what you want, when you want, in the format you need Serve range of research questions –“How many nonprofits are there?” –“What are the differences in sources of revenues among various types of nonprofits?”

Answer : The Web Use technology to ease access for the simpler questions that are more frequently asked Create web-based tool that will enable researchers to answer more complex questions and create their own datasets

At http//:nccs.urban.org Available to all: –Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) –Information on all databases (public charities, private foundations, other tax exempt orgs) –Current projects (research on administrative costs at efforts to improve data quality at and e-file Form 990 at

New at nccs.urban.org New tools for use of National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) –Key word search –Manual –Clusters of codes Similar tools for Nonprofit Program & Beneficiary Classification System (NPC) to analyze nonprofit activities

Links, IRS Forms and Instructions Guide to NCCS Data and KnowledgeBase Fact Sheets and Geographic Profiles of the Nonprofit Sector The DataWeb Additional Web Resources