Look up a foundation's 990-PF
Search by name or EIN. Each result opens a free Grantable profile built from the foundation's IRS filings: its grants by year, who sits on its board, and how much it paid out.
35,692 U.S. foundations and grantmakers with current, itemized giving. Free, no account.
Name search covers 35,692 funders (28,516 private foundations) with current, itemized giving. Data as of . How we build profiles. Page updated .
What is Form 990-PF?
Form 990-PF is the annual return every private foundation files with the IRS, whatever its size. It is a public document. It reports the foundation's assets, income and expenses; its officers, directors and trustees and what they are paid; and every grant it paid during the year, with recipient, purpose and amount. It also lists grants approved for future years and, often, how to apply.
For a grant seeker it is the best evidence there is about a private foundation, because it records what the foundation did, not what it says it wants to do.
What's in a 990-PF, part by part
The return has sixteen numbered parts. These are the ones that matter when you are deciding whether to apply. Part numbers follow the current form.
| Part | What it shows | Why you read it |
|---|---|---|
| Part I Analysis of Revenue and Expenses | Income, expenses, and the total of contributions, gifts and grants paid (line 25) | The one-line answer to "how much does it give a year?" |
| Part II Balance Sheets | Assets at the start and end of the year, at book value and fair market value | Size. The 5% payout minimum is worked out from these assets |
| Part VII Information About Officers, Directors, Trustees, Foundation Managers… | Every officer, director and trustee, with title, hours a week and pay | Who decides. A name you know on the board is worth more than a cold letter |
| Parts IX–XI Minimum Investment Return, Distributable Amount, Qualifying Distributions | The payout arithmetic: 5% of investment assets, the amount the foundation must distribute, and what it actually distributed | Whether it gives at the floor or well above it |
| Part XIV, line 2 Information Regarding Contribution, Grant, Gift, Loan, Scholarship, etc., Programs | A checkbox if it gives only to preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests; otherwise who to contact, the form an application takes, deadlines and restrictions | Whether you can apply at all, and how |
| Part XIV, line 3a Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year | Each recipient’s name and address, its status, the purpose of the grant and the amount | The real giving record: grant sizes, places, causes and repeat names |
| Part XIV, line 3b Approved for Future Payment | Grants committed but not yet paid | Multi-year commitments that will use up next year’s budget |
Reading an older return? The IRS removed a part from the form for tax year 2021 and renumbered the rest. On returns for 2020 and earlier, officers are in Part VIII and the grant list and application information are in Part XV. Source: the 2025 Form 990-PF and its instructions on irs.gov.
990 vs 990-PF vs 990-EZ vs 990-N
Which form an organization files depends on what it is and how big it is. Only the 990-PF is guaranteed to itemize every grant.
| Form | Who files it | What it shows a grant seeker |
|---|---|---|
| Form 990-PF | Every private foundation, whatever its size | Every grant paid, with recipient, purpose and amount; officers and pay; assets; payout; how to apply |
| Form 990 | Public charities with gross receipts of $200,000 or more, or assets of $500,000 or more | Finances, officers and key staff. Grants over $5,000 to U.S. organizations are listed on Schedule I, if it makes them |
| Form 990-EZ | Smaller public charities: gross receipts under $200,000 and assets under $500,000 | A short financial summary and officers. Little about grantmaking |
| Form 990-N | Charities with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less | An e-postcard: name, address, principal officer, confirmation it is still small. No financials |
Community foundations are usually public charities, so they file Form 990, not 990-PF. Their grants appear on Schedule I. Thresholds from the IRS page which forms exempt organizations file.
How to use a 990-PF to qualify a funder
Five checks, in this order. A foundation that fails any of the first four is not a prospect yet, however well its mission reads.
| Check | Where on the form | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. It gives in your field and your place | Part XIV, line 3a: purposes and recipient addresses | Grants to organizations like yours, in your state or county, in the last two or three years. A mission statement that mentions your cause is not enough. |
| 2. Its grants fit your ask | Part XIV, line 3a: amounts | The typical (median) grant, not the average. One large gift to a related organization can make the average meaningless. |
| 3. It funds first-time grantees | Line 3a across several years | New names each year. If the same list repeats year after year, the door is effectively closed. |
| 4. It accepts unsolicited applications | Part XIV, line 2 | The "preselected organizations only" box unchecked, and a contact, a format and deadlines filled in. Then confirm on the foundation’s website, which is more current. |
| 5. It pays out above the 5% minimum | Parts X and XI | Qualifying distributions compared with the distributable amount. Paying well above the minimum, year after year, means room to grow. |
These checks are pass 2 and pass 3 of a wider method. For building the list in the first place and a worked example read line by line, see grant prospecting.
What a Grantable profile adds to the filing
The lookup above takes you to a funder profile. It is built from the same IRS e-filed returns, read across years, so the checks above are mostly done for you.
- Grants by year
- Each filing’s grant list as a table, year by year, so you can see who was funded, for how much and for what, without opening a PDF.
- First-time and repeat grantees
- The share of the latest year’s grantees that were new, and how many were also funded the year before. The fastest read on whether a foundation is open.
- Payout against the minimum
- Qualifying distributions as a percentage of the distributable amount the 5% rule requires.
- Officers across years
- Who sits on the board now, when each person first appears in the filings, role changes and pay, from every return we hold.
- Free data you can cite
- Funder figures licensed CC BY 4.0, a “Cite this profile” block on profiles, and CSV downloads by state and filer type.
What it doesn't do. Profiles are parsed from e-filed returns automatically, so they miss paper filers and trail each foundation's year by months. We don't host the filing documents; for the PDF itself, use one of the sources below. Check the filing before you rely on a number.
The data is free to reuse: download it at GrantGraph Open, and see how each figure is calculated.
Where else to find a 990-PF
The filings are public, so you have options. Each is good at something different.
| Source | What you get | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer | Free. Filing PDFs and parsed financials for each organization, searchable by name or EIN, and full-text search across filings. | Organized around the filer. Grant lists are inside the filing documents, not in tables you can sort. |
| IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search | Free and official. Exemption status, and copies of the returns the IRS has published, searchable by EIN or name. | Raw documents only: no grant tables, no history view. |
| Candid (GuideStar and Foundation Directory) | Long-running nonprofit and foundation profiles. Some filings and grants data are free; Candid also has grants that funders report to it directly. | Much of the detail needs a sign-in or a paid plan. Foundation Directory is free at Candid’s partner libraries. |
More free options, including grant listings, in our guide to the best free grant databases.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 990-PF public?
Yes. A private foundation must let anyone inspect or get a copy of its three most recent Form 990-PF returns, and unlike most charities it cannot withhold the names of its contributors. The IRS also publishes e-filed returns, and sites such as ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and Grantable make them searchable for free.
When is a 990-PF due?
By the 15th day of the 5th month after the foundation’s tax year ends: May 15 for a calendar-year foundation. A foundation can get an automatic six-month extension with Form 8868, which is why many returns appear in the autumn.
How far back are 990-PF filings available?
The foundation itself only has to provide its last three returns. The IRS publishes e-filed returns as they are processed, and ProPublica’s archive holds older returns, including scanned paper filings, for many foundations. Grantable keeps up to five filing years per funder, and a new return usually shows up several months after the tax year ends.
What is the 5% payout rule?
A private foundation must distribute a minimum amount each year, worked out as roughly 5% of the value of its investment assets (its “minimum investment return”, Part IX of the 990-PF). It has until the end of the following tax year to pay it out in qualifying distributions, mostly grants. A foundation that falls short owes a 30% excise tax on the shortfall.
Does a 990-PF show how to apply?
Often. Part XIV, line 2 either has a box checked saying the foundation gives only to preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests, or it lists who to contact, what an application should include, any deadlines and any restrictions on awards. A filing can be a year or two old, so check the foundation’s website before you write.
Where is the list of grants on a 990-PF?
Part XIV, line 3 on returns from 2021 onward (Part XV on older returns). Line 3a lists grants paid during the year, with each recipient’s name, address, status, purpose and amount; line 3b lists grants approved for future payment. Larger foundations often attach the list as a separate statement.
Payout and filing rules summarized from the IRS pages on failure to distribute income and the Form 990-PF instructions.
Don't know which foundation to look up?
Browse funders by state and cause in the free directory, or let Grantable read the filings for you and rank the funders whose giving matches your work.