Data sources
Readable 990 reads publicly available Form 990 data and presents it more clearly. Return-type-specific detail comes from supported Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF e-files. Financial figures and trends use either a comparable IRS XML series or, when that series is unavailable, ProPublica summary data.
IRS Form 990 / 990-EZ / 990-PF e-file XML ↗
The IRS publishes e-filed Form 990-series returns as XML in bulk publication cohorts. We process supported Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF source documents directly. Form 990-EZ exposes fewer fields, so its detail tier omits long-form-only functional expenses, contribution subcategories, donor restrictions, Schedule I recipients, and governance. Form 990-PF uses its Part I books column for comparable core financials and keeps foundation-specific holdings, tax/distribution amounts, and Part XV grants in a distinct detail tier; PF grants do not feed the reverse matched-grant index. When enough consecutive comparable periods of one return type are available, IRS XML supplies the complete financial series. Archive cohort years are publication years, not fiscal years. Detail appears only after that e-file is processed into the active corpus; otherwise the report uses the summary fallback. Structured XML is authoritative for these figures. We do not mix PDF text or OCR into XML-derived amounts; paper-only filings remain at the summary tier unless a later PDF/OCR corpus is separately designed and validated.
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer ↗
Supplies organization metadata and filing links. It powers search when the optional local index is disabled and is the wholesale search fallback when that index is enabled. It also supplies the entire summary financial series whenever the IRS XML history is incomplete, stale, mixed, or otherwise not comparable. A report never mixes providers within one financial series. Each report links back to the matching organization so you can cross-check the numbers. When the matching IRS Object ID is available, it also links to ProPublica's complete filing viewer; an available source PDF remains a separate link.
IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File ↗
An optional frozen local index of this IRS registry can support name-to-EIN search. For an exact EIN that ProPublica cannot identify, it may also supply legal name, location, classification, and exempt-status code. A report labels that source explicitly. The registry record is not a Form 990 filing, and its asset, income, and revenue summary fields are never used as report financials.
IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) ↗
The IRS's own lookup for checking current tax-exempt status and filing availability. Readable 990 links to TEOS for verification; it does not query TEOS live or treat the registry record as a filing.
How current is it?
Form 990 data is inherently delayed: organizations file months after their fiscal year ends, and it takes further time for filings to be released and indexed. A report typically reflects filings that are one to two years old, and may be missing the very latest year. The filing-detail analysis also depends on a supported IRS e-file having been processed for that organization. IRS-backed trends require at least two consecutive comparable periods of one return type—all 990, all 990-EZ, or all 990-PF—and must align with the newest relevant filing; otherwise the report uses ProPublica summary financials. Always confirm time-sensitive details against the original filing and IRS TEOS.
For how we turn this data into a report, see our methodology.