How can I search Form 990 databases for grants to specific individuals like Candace Owens?
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Executive summary
To find grants to named individuals you must search the filings that list grantees — primarily Form 990-PF (private foundations) and grant schedules on Forms 990 — using databases that index those filings and let you keyword-search grantee names. Candid/GuideStar and Foundation Directory (FDO) provide searchable Form 990/990‑PF data and grant histories [1] [2] [3]; ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and IRS digitized 990 feeds provide downloadable filings and machine-readable XML for deeper searching [4] [5]. Free tools exist (FDO Quick Start, library access) but private commercial tools offer easier keyword/grantee searching [6] [3].
1. Why named-person searches are possible — and where the names appear
Private foundations file Form 990‑PF, and those returns include recipient names, locations and grant amounts in schedules that make it possible to identify grants to individuals or individual-led entities; public charities’ Form 990s can also disclose grants in schedules though formats vary, so searching the 990‑PF universe is the most direct route [7] [8]. Candid and related databases consolidate these filings and highlight “grantee” fields to speed lookup [2] [1].
2. Practical first stops: Candid/GuideStar and Foundation Directory
Candid’s GuideStar and the Foundation Directory are the standard starting points. GuideStar/Candid lets users look up charities, view Forms 990 and 990‑PF, and search grantmaker profiles and grant histories; Foundation Directory offers a grant-seeking database that indexes grantmaker profiles and past awards [1] [3]. University library guides note a free FDO Quick Start and other limited-access versions that let keyword-search 990‑PFs and recently awarded grants [6].
3. The free deep-dive alternative: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and IRS data
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer hosts IRS‑processed Form 990s and links to copies and XML data, enabling researchers to download filings and search program schedules and grant tables; the IRS’s digitized releases underpin this work and are available for filings processed since about 2012 [4] [5]. Researchers who can parse XML or scrape PDFs can do exhaustive name-keyword searches without subscribing to commercial tools [4].
4. How to structure searches for an individual like Candace Owens
Start by searching grantmaker names and 990‑PFs for likely funders (use Candid/FDO or library-hosted tools) and then keyword-search grantee fields for the individual’s name or affiliated entity names; if you know likely donor foundations or corporate funders, pull their 990‑PFs and read the grants schedules where recipient names and amounts appear [7] [2] [3]. If a grant was made to a business or LLC associated with the individual, try variations of names and affiliated organization names during your search (sources note keyword searchability in 990‑PF databases) [6].
5. Limits, lag time and missing entries to watch for
Form 990s are filed annually and can lag actual giving; Candid and grant‑research guides emphasize that filings reflect a point-in-time and that not every recent grant will yet appear, so absence of a name in the filings does not prove no grant occurred [9]. Smaller nonprofits that file Form 990‑N (e‑Postcard) won’t include detailed schedules (the IRS explains e‑Postcard rules), and some grants may be routed through intermediaries or named to entities rather than individuals, complicating direct matches [10] [9].
6. When to use paid services and libraries — cost vs. convenience
Commercial products like full Foundation Directory subscriptions surface grant histories, allow clean keyword filters and often include 2.4 million recently awarded grants and databases of foundations and corporate programs; libraries commonly provide free or low‑cost access to these subscriptions [6] [3]. If you need one-off, thorough searches for a public figure, a library subscription to Candid/FDO or a short commercial trial will usually save time versus manual XML/PDF parsing on ProPublica/IRS data [6] [3].
7. Transparency trade-offs and agenda awareness
Databases draw from IRS filings; those filings reflect what filers report. Organizations with political aims or media profiles may structure grants or entity names to avoid easy linkage to an individual — an implicit incentive to obscure direct associations. Candid and ProPublica present filings as‑filed and note the limitations of self‑reported returns; researchers should treat both the presence and absence of names in filings as partial evidence subject to verification [1] [4] [9].
If you want, I can walk through a step‑by‑step search plan using Candid or ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and list exact fields/schedules to inspect in a 990‑PF. Sources used above: Candid/GuideStar, Candid 990 Finder, Foundation Directory, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, IRS guidance, and grant‑research guides [1] [2] [3] [4] [10] [6] [7] [9].