Does Factually appear in the IRS Exempt Organizations database (EO Select Check) or have a published Form 990?
Executive summary
The documents provided for review do not include any direct record or search result showing whether an organization named "Factually" appears in the IRS Exempt Organizations listings or has a published Form 990; the sources instead describe where and how that information is published and how to search for it (IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, EO Business Master File, and third‑party archives) [1] [2] [3]. Because none of the supplied snippets shows a direct lookup for "Factually," this analysis cannot confirm presence or absence and instead explains the authoritative paths to verify the status and public filings [1] [2] [4].
1. What the public record system looks like and why it matters
The IRS maintains an Exempt Organizations Business Master File (EO BMF) and an online Tax Exempt Organization Search that publishes summary data and, in many cases, copies of Form 990‑series returns filed since January 2018, making the federal record the primary source for confirming whether a group has recognized tax‑exempt status and whether it has filed a Form 990 or a Form 990‑N e‑Postcard [1] [2] [5]. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and other research aggregators also index and host many 990 PDFs and searchable metadata pulled from IRS releases, which makes them a convenient secondary route to locate filings and historic returns [4] [6]. These systems are the standard reference points used by journalists, regulators and donors to verify an organization’s public tax filings [5] [4].
2. What counts as a “published Form 990” and which filings might be present
An organization’s publicly available filings can include full Forms 990, 990‑EZ, 990‑PF and the simplified 990‑N “e‑Postcard” for very small organizations; the IRS explicitly makes 990‑series returns viewable online for filings processed since 2018 and publishes bulk EO BMF extracts that list recognized exempt organizations [2] [1] [7]. Public disclosure rules require exempt organizations to make their most recent returns available for inspection as well, and the IRS provides procedures to request copies when a return is not posted online, including Form 4506‑A for older or paper returns [8] [2] [6]. Thus, a "published" Form 990 may appear either directly on the IRS search tool, in the IRS bulk extracts, or via repositories such as ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer [2] [3] [4].
3. Why the supplied reporting cannot answer “Does Factually appear?”
None of the provided snippets contains a direct search result or entry for an entity named “Factually,” nor do they include an excerpt showing a Form 990 or EO BMF row for that name; the available reporting consists of guidance about Form 990, the IRS search tools, and third‑party indexes, not an organization lookup for Factually itself [9] [1] [4]. Without a query result or a PDF of a return tied to the name “Factually,” asserting that the organization does or does not appear in the IRS database would exceed what the supplied sources support [2] [3].
4. How to definitively confirm Factually’s status (authoritative next steps)
The quickest authoritative verification is to perform a live search on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search page or download the current EO BMF extract and search the dataset for the organization's exact legal name or EIN; the IRS portal also permits viewing of any 990‑series PDFs processed since January 2018 [1] [2] [3]. If the IRS search does not return results but the organization claims exemption or has older returns, a formal request for copies using IRS Form 4506‑A or contacting the IRS public disclosure office is the prescribed route [2] [6]. For convenience and duplication, consult ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and other archival repositories that host historical 990 documents pulled from IRS releases [4] [6].
5. Caveats, possible false negatives, and alternative explanations
A lack of search results can reflect several possibilities besides nonexistence: the organization may operate under a different legal name or a DBA; it might be a very small charity filing only a 990‑N e‑Postcard (which is searchable through IRS datasets but not a full PDF); it could be a subordinate listed under a group exemption that doesn’t file separately; or its exemption could have been automatically revoked for failing to file and therefore appear on the IRS Auto‑Revocation list—each scenario is discussed in IRS guidance and affects discoverability [7] [10] [8]. Because the provided reporting does not include a targeted lookup, these contingencies cannot be resolved here and require direct queries to the IRS or the organization’s public disclosures [7] [8].