Search 990s

1. What is Search 990s?

Exclusive to Foundation Directory Online Professional, Search 990s is used to search for IRS Forms 990 and 990-PF recently filed by private foundations and public charities in our database. There are seven search fields available on the Search 990s Screen. The first search field provides keyword searching capability across the text of every 990 and 990-PF in our database simultaneously. The remaining six search fields are used to refine your search by various criteria.

2. Why would I want to use Search 990s?

Used in conjunction with our Search Grantmakers and Search Grants databases, Search 990s can help you identify even more prospective funders. It is particularly useful for locating grantmakers identifying themselves with very specific terminology not found in our indexes or in the text of our grantmaker profiles. Search 990s can also be used to search for recently awarded grants not meeting our criteria for inclusion in our grants database, usually small grants or grants made by small foundations. While Search 990s is a very powerful tool, it's important to note that it's best used as a complement to, not a replacement for, FDO's other search screens.

3. What does the Relevance column mean on the 990 Search Results Screen?

The Relevance column indicates the relevance of each filing in relation to your search criteria. Filings that contain the most occurences of your search criteria terms will be rated higher than those that contain fewer.

4. Why are my keywords and key phrases no longer highlighted in 990 filings and why does Adobe Reader no longer display the first instance of my keywords and key phrases?

Apparently, you've upgraded to Adobe Reader 9.0. The highlighting feature is turned off by default in this version. Here are the steps to enable it:

1. Open up a 990 in FDO and right-click anywhere on the document
2. Select Page Display Preferences
3. Under Categories, select Search
4. Click the check box for Enable search highlights from external highlight server
5. Click the OK button

5. How do I find the next instance of a highlighted word or phrase in a filing?

If you typed a word or phrase into the Keyword Search field on the Search 990s Screen, Adobe Reader automatically displays and highlights the first instance of that word or phrase in the filing. To move to the next instance of the word or phrase, use the navigation tools at the top of the screen. For help, please refer to the documentation included with the Adobe Reader application. Please note that some older versions of Adobe Reader aren't fully compatible with this functionality. Download the latest version of the Reader. Also note that the Adobe Reader highlighting feature is turned off by default in Adobe Reader 9.0. See the FAQ above for instructions on enabling this feature.

6. Why aren't highlighted words and phrases matching the criteria I typed into the Keyword Search field?

Note that the technology used to scan the text contained in 990 filings—Optical Character Recognition, or OCR—is not a perfect science and there might be instances when a highlighted word or phrase doesn't match exactly the word or phrase you typed into the Keyword Search field.

7. What is the difference between an IRS Form 990 and an IRS Form 990-PF?

The IRS Form 990 is filed with the IRS by community foundations and other public charities. The IRS Form 990-PF is filed with the IRS by private foundations only.