National Center For Charitable Statistics

Originally founded in 1982, the National Center for Charitable Statistics came under the umbrella of the Center on Nonprofit and Philanthropy (CNP) in 1996. The center was founded to act as the national clearing house of data relating to the nonprofit sector in the United States.

The role of CNP is to conduct research on the impact of nonprofit organizations and philanthropic actions. The mission of the center is to further the aims of civil society whilst promoting the activities of the nonprofit sector. This has been done and will continue to be done by continuous research, informed policy making fueled by providing constantly update analysis.

Information gathered by the National Center for Charitable Statistics assists the IRS in classifying organizations and allowing them a tax-exempt status if applicable. To meet this challenge the National Center for Charitable Statistics, the IRS working in conjunction with the center on nonprofit and philanthropy formed the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE).

Known as the NTEE-CC, the exempt entities numbers today 645, an increase of 245 on the original 400 entities listed in the previous NTEE.

Regarded as being considerably more user friendly than it predecessor, the NTEE-CC functions as the most efficient instrument in the determination of tax-exempt status, and the classification of what makes a nonprofit organization. To date almost one million organizations are registered to be using the system utilizing to the full its consistent hierarchical logic.

Working together the national taxonomy of exempt entities and the National Center for Charitable Statistics have compiled a list of groups and sub groups organisations classed as being tax exemptible, The list consists of 10 major groups listed as follows:
  • Art, culture and humanities.
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Human Services
  • International Affairs
  • Public Benefit
  • Religion
  • Miscellaneous.

Instantly accessible online, the NCCS Data Web allows potential donors to view, and analyze data on hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations.

This massive pool of information allows both donors and charities to interact, either with the IRS or among themselves. The donors can narrow down their search for charities that the wish to donate to by category, sub category, size, founding date and even geographical location. The charities under review can accurately state their achievements to date and their plans for the future.

There is no doubt that the establishment of the National Center for Charitable Statistics and their work in establishing the national taxonomy of exempt entities has made life simpler, better and certainly more streamlined both for donors and charities as one. If you are an active donor and not aware of the sterling efforts of the center, then it is never too late to find out. If you are only now beginning to consider being a regular charity donor, then this user friendly web site will go a long way in helping you gather information on what is involved.