Nonprofit Research

This guide helps those doing research on nonprofit organizations

Your Librarian

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Pamela Contakos

Acknowledgement

Thank you to Alice Kalinowski for her permission to adapt her Nonprofit Research @ Pitt guide.

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What is a nonprofit?

A nonprofit is defined as:

A group, organization, institution or corporation formed to provide goods and/or services for a charitable, educational, religious, literary or scientific purpose. Nonprofits' assets are usually donated by companies, foundations or individuals who do not expect to be repaid. These contributions are tax deductible. If a nonprofit meets the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service's Code, section 501(c)(3), it can obtain tax-exempt status, and does not pay federal or state income taxes.

Starting Points

Article Databases

Article databases may contain trade and scholarly publications on nonprofits

Newspaper Databases

Newspapers are a great source of information on local nonprofits

Key Journals

Use the library catalog to find online books, articles and more on what a nonprofit is, how it is formed, funded and managed. Use the Advanced Search to combine keywords in a search string. Here are some sample search terms :

  • nonprofit organizations AND fundraising
  • nonprofit organizations AND management
  • nonprofits AND business models

library catalogLibrary Catalog

Ratings, Reports and Statistics

Information Portals