nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server

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  <h1>@cyanheads/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server</h1>
  <p><b>Search and explore 1.8M+ US nonprofits, fetch Form 990 financials, and access IRS filing history via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.</b>
  <div>3 Tools</div>
  </p>
</div>

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[![Install in Claude Desktop](https://img.shields.io/badge/Install_in-Claude_Desktop-D97757?style=for-the-badge&logo=anthropic&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/cyanheads/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server.mcpb) [![Install in Cursor](https://cursor.com/deeplink/mcp-install-dark.svg)](https://cursor.com/en/install-mcp?name=nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server&config=eyJjb21tYW5kIjoibnB4IiwiYXJncyI6WyIteSIsIkBjeWFuaGVhZHMvbm9ucHJvZml0LWV4cGxvcmVyLW1jcC1zZXJ2ZXIiXX0=) [![Install in VS Code](https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code-Install_Server-0098FF?style=for-the-badge&logo=visualstudiocode&logoColor=white)](https://vscode.dev/redirect?url=vscode:mcp/install?%7B%22name%22%3A%22nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server%22%2C%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22-y%22%2C%22%40cyanheads%2Fnonprofit-explorer-mcp-server%22%5D%7D)

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**Public Hosted Server:** [https://nonprofit-explorer.caseyjhand.com/mcp](https://nonprofit-explorer.caseyjhand.com/mcp)

</div>

---

## Tools

3 tools for working with US nonprofit and IRS Form 990 data:

| Tool | Description |
|:---|:---|
| `nonprofit_search` | Search 1.8M+ IRS-recognized tax-exempt organizations by name, keyword, city, or phrase with optional state, NTEE sector, and 501(c) filters |
| `nonprofit_get_organization` | Full profile for one org by EIN: legal identity, IRS classification, ruling date, and a financial snapshot from the most recent Form 990 |
| `nonprofit_get_filings` | All Form 990 filings for an org by EIN: year-by-year financials, revenue breakdown, executive compensation, and source PDF links |

### `nonprofit_search`

Search for tax-exempt organizations across the IRS Nonprofit Explorer dataset.

- Full-text search across org name, the IRS Business Master File secondary name line, and city with relevance ranking
- Supports quoted phrases (`"Red Cross"`), required terms (`+evanston`), excluded terms (`-dental`)
- Filter by US state, territory, or military postal code (`ZZ` for foreign entities); case-insensitive, and a code outside that set is rejected rather than silently returning national results
- Filter by NTEE major sector (Arts, Education, Health, Human Services, etc., 1–10)
- Filter by 501(c) subsection code (e.g., `3` = charitable organization — both public charities and private foundations, `4` = social welfare)
- Paginated at 25 per page; use `page` (zero-indexed) with `num_pages`, `per_page`, and `page_offset` to walk large result sets
- Zero matches and a page past the last one are both successful searches with an empty `organizations` array and a `notice` explaining which case it is
- API caps total results at 10,000; `total_results === 10000` means the actual count may be higher, and a `page` whose offset reaches 10,000 is refused with the `pagination_ceiling` error
- Returns EINs — pass to `nonprofit_get_organization` or `nonprofit_get_filings` for details

---

### `nonprofit_get_organization`

Fetch the full profile for a single tax-exempt org by EIN.

- Accepts EIN as integer (`530196605`) or string with or without hyphen (`"53-0196605"`)
- Returns legal name, address, NTEE code, 501(c) type, and IRS ruling date
- IRS Business Master File standing: whether contributions are deductible (including the deductible-by-treaty case), exemption status, and public-charity vs. private-foundation classification — each decoded from its IRS code with the raw code retained
- Financial snapshot from the most recent Form 990: revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities, net assets
- Includes source 990 PDF link and IRS Business Master File summary figures
- `filing_count` shows how many filings with extracted data are on record
- Data lags 1–2 years; `tax_prd_yr` in the snapshot is the fiscal year of the filing, not the current year
- Use `nonprofit_search` first if you only have an org name

---

### `nonprofit_get_filings`

Fetch the full filing history for an org by EIN.

- All Form 990 filings with extracted financial data, sorted newest first
- Per-filing: revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities, net assets, revenue breakdown (contributions, program service, investment income)
- `program_expense_ratio` is always `null` — ProPublica returns no Form 990 Part IX program-service expense total, so the program/management/fundraising split is only in the source PDF
- Executive compensation summary with field-name transparency and a note pointing to Schedule J for per-officer detail
- Source 990 PDF link per filing
- An EIN that resolves to a real org with no 990 on record returns an empty `filings` array plus a `notice` — a successful lookup, not an error
- `filings_pdf_only` lists older filings with a PDF but no extracted data
- Data lags 1–2 years; always cite `tax_prd_yr` (fiscal year) when presenting figures

## Features

Built on [`@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core):

- Declarative tool definitions — single file per tool, framework handles registration and validation
- Unified error handling — handlers throw, framework catches, classifies, and formats
- Pluggable auth: `none`, `jwt`, `oauth`
- Swappable storage backends: `in-memory`, `filesystem`, `Supabase`, `Cloudflare KV/R2/D1`
- Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
- STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports

ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer / IRS-specific:

- Keyless access — ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API requires no API key
- Covers 1.8M+ IRS-recognized tax-exempt organizations
- IRS Form 990 data: annual filings for public charities (990), small orgs (990-EZ), and private foundations (990-PF)
- Source filing PDF link on every filing record, except where IRS PDF processing lags the extracted data and `pdf_url` is still null
- Data sourced from ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, derived from IRS Form 990 filings; data lags 1–2 years

Agent-friendly output:

- Provenance on every response — `data_source` attribution on all tool outputs, ProPublica URL for direct verification
- Filing-year clarity — `tax_prd_yr` prominently labeled as fiscal year with explicit lag caveat in every financial response
- Null values are rendered, not dropped — the formatted text names why a value is absent (never recorded by the IRS, not extracted from the filing, not carried by that form type), and `structuredContent` keeps an explicit `null` rather than omitting the key
- Field-name transparency on compensation — `field_name` and `form_type` exposed so agents know exactly which IRS field was read

## Getting started

### Public Hosted Instance

A public instance is available at `https://nonprofit-explorer.caseyjhand.com/mcp` — no installation required. Point any MCP client at it via Streamable HTTP, with this client config:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://nonprofit-explorer.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

Or, install locally and add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Or with npx (no Bun required):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Or with Docker:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
        "ghcr.io/cyanheads/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

```sh
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp
```

### Prerequisites

- [Bun v1.3.14](https://bun.sh/) or higher (or Node.js v24+).
- No API key required — ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer is a keyless public API.

### Installation

1. **Clone the repository:**

```sh
git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server.git
```

2. **Navigate into the directory:**

```sh
cd nonprofit-explorer-mcp-server
```

3. **Install dependencies:**

```sh
bun install
```

4. **Configure env