Last updated: July 21, 2026
CharityIQ is grounded AI for US nonprofits. That means every answer we generate is built on verified data and cited to its source, rather than invented from a language model’s training data. This page lists the public data sources we ground our answers in, what we use each for, and the limits you should know about.
The public data we ground answers in
IRS data (Form 990 series & Business Master File)
The Internal Revenue Service publishes electronically filed Form 990, 990-EZ, and 990-PF returns, along with the Exempt Organizations Business Master File. We use this to confirm an organization’s tax-exempt status, EIN, financial scale, and filing history, and to surface a funder’s recent giving.
Candid
Candid (formed from the Foundation Center and GuideStar) aggregates data on US foundations, grantmakers, and nonprofits. We use it to understand funder priorities, typical grant sizes, and giving patterns that inform grant matching.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is the US federal government’s central database of discretionary grant opportunities. We use it to surface live federal funding opportunities and their eligibility and deadline details.
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer provides structured access to IRS filings for millions of tax-exempt organizations. We use it to cross-reference organizational and funder data and to cite recent grants.
U.S. Census Bureau (American Community Survey)
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and related datasets provide demographic and community statistics. We use these to ground needs statements and impact context with verifiable local figures.
State charity offices and registries
State attorneys general and charity regulators publish charitable registration and solicitation data. We use these to inform compliance guidance, including multi-state charitable solicitation registration.
How we use these sources
We use public data in three ways: to match your nonprofit to funders you are genuinely eligible for; to ground and cite the figures in AI-drafted applications and reports; and to inform compliance guidance. When our AI states a fact drawn from one of these sources, it shows you the source so you can check it before you act.
We do not use these public datasets to train public AI models, and we do not use your organization’s private data to train public models. See our Privacy Policy and Security page for detail.
Accuracy, freshness, and limitations
Public datasets are refreshed on the publishers’ schedules, and some (particularly IRS filings) can lag real-world events by months. Grant programs open, pause, and close frequently. For this reason, CharityIQ is built around a human in the loop: our AI produces a cited draft, and a person reviews and approves it before anything is submitted. Always confirm a funder’s current program status, eligibility, and deadlines on the funder’s own site before you apply, and verify any figure against its cited source.
Your own data
Alongside public sources, CharityIQ can ground answers in the data you choose to provide — your programs, beneficiaries, outcomes, and past applications. That data is yours. Its handling is governed by our Privacy Policy and, for organizations that need one, our Data Processing Agreement.
Attribution
The datasets and services above are the property of their respective owners and are used in accordance with their terms. Names and trademarks are used for identification only and do not imply endorsement of CharityIQ by the IRS, Candid, ProPublica, or any other named source.
Questions about our data sources? Email hello@charityiq.us. CharityIQ is a product of CIQ Technologies Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company no. 17338776).