FAQ

Northstar Toolkit is a nonprofit data platform built on IRS 990 filings. Every US nonprofit and foundation is searchable for free on the site, available as clean JSON through a developer API, and connectable to Claude or any AI agent through a free MCP server. The 990 base layer is free and stays free.

Yes. Searching the site, browsing org pages, and the MCP server are free with no account. A free account adds saving, AI matching, and an API key with generous rate limits. The paid Builder tier ($49/month) exists for commercial API use — higher quotas, batch lookups, and a commercial license.

IRS e-file records — Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, and 990-N — the same public source used by every major nonprofit data provider. We model the full filing into a consistent schema: line-item financials, balance sheets, program accomplishments, executive compensation, and complete foundation grant lists.

Every record shows its tax year, form type, and source. The IRS publishes e-filed returns on its own schedule — often a year or more after an organization's fiscal year ends — and that lag applies to every 990 data source. We deliberately don't promise freshness; we show per-record source dates so you always know what you're looking at. If something looks wrong, use the contact page to request a correction.

ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer is free but shallow (summary fields plus raw documents) and prohibits commercial use. Candid and Cause IQ have deep data but cost thousands of dollars a year behind sales calls. Northstar occupies the gap: deep modeled 990 data, self-serve, commercially licensed on the Builder tier, at a fraction of the enterprise price — and it's the only one with a free MCP server for AI agents.

Look up any organization by EIN, pull complete modeled filings as JSON, query financial time series, search by revenue, category, geography, or program-expense ratio, search semantically over missions, and pull compensation and grant data. See the quickstart in the docs — your first call works without a key.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is how AI assistants connect to external data. Paste our server URL into Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, or ChatGPT and the assistant can research any US nonprofit directly — finances, salaries, grants, peers — with no signup required. Setup takes about two minutes on the Connect page.

Yes. Foundation search with complete 990-PF grant histories is free, and a free account adds AI funder matching against your organization's mission plus lists for tracking prospects. The grant-writing workspace remains available for existing users.

No. A free account needs no payment information. You only add payment details if you upgrade to the Builder tier for commercial API use.