List of nonprofit organizations: how many there are by type, size and state, from the IRS master file

This guide is for companies that sell to nonprofits: fundraising and donor management software, accounting and audit firms, insurance brokers, payroll and HR providers, IT services, printers and mail houses, and event venues. It's also for anyone who needs a list of nonprofits by type or state. It counts nonprofit organizations from the IRS's own file, shows where to download it, explains how nonprofits buy and who decides, and works through an example.

How many nonprofit organizations there are

The IRS keeps the Exempt Organizations Business Master File (EO BMF), a record of every organization it has recognized as tax-exempt. It publishes the file as free CSV downloads by state and region, refreshed monthly. The October 2026 files list 1,980,979 organizations:

The file has one important gap. Churches don't have to apply for recognition, and the IRS says churches and other organizations that haven't applied aren't in it. The 294,101 churches in the file are the ones that chose to apply, not all US congregations.

The kinds of 501(c)(3) organization

Within 501(c)(3), the IRS foundation code separates private foundations from public charities, and the difference matters to a seller: foundations mostly give money away, while public charities run programs and buy what they need to run them.

Most nonprofits are small

Which tax return an organization files is a quick test of size. The IRS rules: gross receipts normally of $50,000 or less can file the Form 990-N e-Postcard; receipts under $200,000 and assets under $500,000 can file the 990-EZ; anything larger files the full Form 990, and private foundations file the 990-PF whatever their size.

818,806 of the 501(c)(3)s (49.5%) are required to file only the 990-N. For most sellers, the market starts somewhere around $500,000 of income, which is roughly where a nonprofit has paid staff, an office and systems to replace. That leaves about 198,000 charities.

The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns gives the employer view. In 2023 it counted 607,696 nonprofit establishments with paid employees, employing 16,983,356 people, 12.1% of private-sector employment in its survey. Health care and social assistance accounted for 182,986 of those establishments and 8,846,301 employees.

Nonprofits by category

The IRS file tags most organizations with a National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Here are the largest groups, for all 501(c)(3)s and for those with income of $1 million or more:

The two columns tell different stories. Religion-related groups are the largest category by count but small by income. Health care is mid-sized by count, but a quarter of its charities report income of $1 million or more, the highest share of any group.

Nonprofits by state

New York and Massachusetts rank higher by large charities than by total count, which likely reflects their concentration of universities, hospitals and foundations.

Where to download a list of nonprofits

Check every name against the automatic revocation list before you use it. An organization that fails to file its required return or notice for three years in a row loses its exemption automatically, and the IRS publishes those organizations in a separate file.

How nonprofits buy

• The board approves the budget. Most purchases above routine spending are planned in the annual budget, which the board approves before the fiscal year starts. 73.6% of 501(c)(3)s use a December year end and 13.5% use June, so the main budget seasons are autumn for calendar-year organizations and spring for June year ends.
• Who decides depends on size. In a charity with a few staff, the executive director decides almost everything, often with the board treasurer. Above about $5 million of income, expect a finance or operations director, a development director who owns fundraising tools, and an IT lead or outside IT firm.
• Restricted money. Many grants can only be spent on a named program. A purchase that supports a funded program, or that a grant can pay for, is easier to approve than general overhead.
• Scrutiny of overhead. Nonprofits report management and fundraising costs separately on the 990, and many funders watch that ratio. Show how your product saves staff time or raises more money, not just what it costs.
• Peers and associations. State nonprofit associations, community foundations and sector groups are where executive directors compare vendors.

Worked example: donor software for Ohio charities

Illustrative example. The company and its plan are fictional; the counts come from the IRS EO BMF, October 2026.

The seller: Giftline (giftline.example) sells donor management software to mid-sized charities. The target: Ohio public charities with income of $1 million to $5 million, big enough to have a development team, small enough to still run fundraising on spreadsheets.

What the data shows. The IRS file lists 1,862 Ohio public charities in that income band. The largest coded groups are human services (306), education (158), arts and culture (138), community improvement (93), mental health (90) and housing (84). 1,144 close their books in December and 501 in June.

The plan.

1. Narrow by category. Giftline's best customers are human services, arts, mental health, housing and community improvement charities: 711 organizations.
2. Find the decision makers. Each one's latest Form 990 names its executive director and board officers; the website usually names the development director.
3. Time it to the budget. Contact the 501 June year-end charities from February to April, while next year's budget is being drafted, and the December year-end charities from August to October.
4. Do the arithmetic. If an illustrative 60% of the 711 have a development director you can identify, that's about 427 contacts. At an illustrative 5% reply rate, that's about 21 conversations across two budget seasons.

Reading 711 Form 990s and websites is the slow part; Bebop researches each organization in a list and writes a playbook with the people and the angle.

Subject: [Organization]'s donor list after [event or campaign]

Hi [first name],

I saw [organization] raised [amount or result] at [event or campaign] this year. Congratulations.

Development teams your size tell us the hard part comes after the event: getting every new donor thanked and into the right follow-up before they go cold.

Giftline is built for charities with a small development team. Would 20 minutes be useful while you're planning next year's budget?

[Your name]
[Phone number]

Common mistakes

• Treating 1.98 million as the market. Half of all charities file a postcard for receipts of $50,000 or less; filter by income first.
• Missing churches. The IRS file leaves out congregations that never applied, so it undercounts religious organizations.
• Using revoked organizations. Check the automatic revocation list before outreach.
• Pitching cost alone. Show the time saved or money raised, which is what the board will ask about.
• Ignoring the fiscal year. Contact each organization while its budget is being drafted, not after it's approved.

Next step: turn the categories, sizes and states that fit your product into a written profile with the ideal customer profile template, then filter the IRS file to match.