This page publishes no price range, because there is not one to publish. The question about a nonprofit is not what it costs but whether it is what it says it is, and that question has real answers. The IRS runs a free search that covers most of it, an organization that misses three consecutive filings loses its exempt status automatically, and you can demand its Form 990 in person and get it the same day.
Every other category on this directory carries a sourced price range, because a price is the thing a reader is trying to find. Here there is no such number. A land conservancy, an advocacy nonprofit, a senior living nonprofit and an adoption agency have nothing in common on the cost side, and inventing a range to fill the space would be worse than leaving it empty.
What replaces it is verification, which is the actual question people bring to this category, and which has better answers than most trades can offer.
The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is free and covers five things: eligibility to receive tax-deductible contributions, Form 990 series returns, Form 990-N electronic postcards, the automatic revocation list, and determination letters. Between them they answer most of what a donor wants to know.
One caveat the IRS states itself: it is still processing paper-filed 990 series returns received from 2021 onwards. A missing recent return is not proof that an organization failed to file.
An organization that fails to file for three consecutive years loses its tax-exempt status automatically. No hearing, no notice required. Once it appears on the automatic revocation list, which is public and updated monthly, it is no longer eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Contributions made before the organization appeared on that list remain deductible, which matters if you are looking back at last year's giving rather than this year's.
This one is less well known than it should be. A nonprofit must provide copies of its returns and its exemption application to anyone who asks. Immediately, for a request made in person. Within thirty days, for a written one. It may charge a reasonable copying fee and actual postage, and nothing else.
An organization that is awkward about that request has told you something without meaning to.
On a quid pro quo contribution over seventy-five dollars, meaning a gala ticket, an auction item or a benefit dinner, the charity must give a written disclosure statement, and the donor may deduct only the amount exceeding the fair market value of what they received. Separately, any single gift of two hundred and fifty dollars or more requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity, obtained by the earlier of the filing date or the due date of the return.
For land trusts, accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission is voluntary and evaluates governance, finance, transactions and stewardship. It renews every five years, extending to seven after three renewals, and first-time applicants enter through an annual lottery rather than simply applying.
For intercountry adoption, accreditation is not voluntary at all. Under 22 CFR Part 96 an agency or person providing adoption services must be accredited or approved, supervised, or exempted. Those regulations took effect on 1 April 2008, and the Universal Accreditation Act extended them to non-Hague cases from 14 July 2014.
There is a currency point here that matters in 2026. The accrediting entity changed. IAAME withdrew, and the Center for Excellence in Adoption Services took over as accrediting entity for all accredited and approved US adoption service providers on 30 September 2025. It determines eligibility, monitors performance, investigates and responds to complaints, takes disciplinary action, and assists with transferring cases when an agency loses accreditation. The State Department also runs a public complaint registry.
Any agency page or third-party guide still naming IAAME as the accrediting entity is out of date, and that is a useful thing to notice while you are reading one.
Look the organization up in the IRS search before anything else. It takes a minute and answers the deductibility question directly.
Check the automatic revocation list specifically, not just whether a determination letter exists. Those are different datasets.
Ask for the Form 990. You are entitled to it, immediately in person, and how the organization handles the request is itself information.
On an event or a benefit, ask what the fair market value of what you are receiving is, because that is the part you cannot deduct.
On adoption services, verify accreditation with the Center for Excellence in Adoption Services rather than with the agency's own website, and check the State Department complaint registry.
On a land trust, ask whether it is accredited and when the term expires. It is voluntary, so its absence is not damning, but its presence is checkable.
Use the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. It is free and covers eligibility to receive tax-deductible contributions, Form 990 returns, 990-N postcards, the automatic revocation list and determination letters.
After three consecutive years without filing it loses tax-exempt status automatically, with no hearing and no notice required. Once it appears on the public revocation list it is no longer eligible for tax-deductible contributions.
The IRS states it is still processing paper-filed 990 series returns received from 2021 onwards, so an absent recent return is not proof of a failure to file.
Yes, and it is a right rather than a favor. A nonprofit must provide copies of its returns and exemption application immediately for an in-person request and within thirty days for a written one, charging only reasonable copying and actual postage.
Not if you received something for it. On a quid pro quo contribution over $75 the charity must give a written disclosure, and you may deduct only the amount exceeding the fair market value of what you received.
Any single gift of $250 or more requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity, obtained by the earlier of your filing date or the due date of the return.
Since 30 September 2025, the Center for Excellence in Adoption Services, which replaced IAAME as accrediting entity for all accredited and approved US providers. Any source still naming IAAME is out of date.
No. Under 22 CFR Part 96 an agency or person providing adoption services must be accredited or approved, supervised, or exempted. The Universal Accreditation Act extended the requirement to non-Hague cases from 14 July 2014.