About Compensation 990
Compensation 990 turns public IRS Form 990 filings into searchable nonprofit compensation profiles, rankings, and trends.
Nonprofit compensation data is already public. It lives inside IRS Form 990 filings—long, technical documents that are hard to search, compare, and understand.
Compensation 990 takes that raw data and turns it into clear, searchable profiles of organizations, board members, key employees, and contractors. We're not creating new information; we're organizing what's already on the public record so it's actually useful.
Our goal is simple:
- Help people understand how their compensation compares to peers
- Give boards and leadership better context for setting compensation
- Bring more transparency to the nonprofit sector as a whole
When information is easy to see, it's easier to advocate for yourself, for your team, and for a healthier, more transparent nonprofit ecosystem.
About the Data on Compensation 990
The data on this site was sourced from the IRS. Most of it comes from the IRS's database of 990 filings since calendar year 2017. The organization categories come from a separate file maintained by the IRS called NTEE (National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities). IRS 990 filers select their NTEE codes, but they aren't always accurate, especially as organizations' missions change.
Where possible, we've made corrections to the information in the 990s:
- Formatting consistency. Some filers file in all caps, some file all lower case. Since 2017, the job title Vice President has been formatted 73 different ways in 990 filings (VP, V.P., Vice Pres, Vice P, etc.)
- Spelling. 990 filers are human. We try to correct spelling in order to improve accuracy and comparability of filings.
- Extreme compensation totals. When a compensation amount is clearly wrong, we try to throw it out to not bias the comparisons.
We've also done extensive work grouping tens of thousands of contractor compensation reports into categories and subcategories, and mapping similar titles together for comparison (e.g. Development Director vs. Director of Development).
If you find a discrepancy on the site caused by an IRS filing, the organization should amend its filing with the IRS. If you find a discrepancy on the site caused by our corrections, tell us about it.