How to look up nonprofit pay on Form 990

If you are weighing a job offer from a nonprofit, or getting ready to ask one for a raise, you can see what its leaders and highest-paid staff earn before you say a word. Larger tax-exempt organizations report those figures by name and title on IRS Form 990. Under the 2025 Form 990 instructions, any current employee paid over $100,000 who ranks among the five highest-paid can show up there. This guide shows you where to find the form, which lines to read, and how to turn what you find into a better pay conversation.

Quick reference: who appears on a Form 990

Here is the short version of the reporting rules, taken from the IRS Instructions for Form 990 for tax year 2025. "Reportable compensation" means roughly what shows up on someone's W-2 (box 1 or box 5, whichever is bigger) or 1099. "Other compensation" means things like retirement contributions and health benefits that are not in that W-2 total.

These rules apply to the full Form 990, and the thresholds come from the 2025 form-year instructions. Check the newest instructions if you are reading a later return.

Why nonprofit pay is public

Most private employers never have to tell anyone what they pay. Tax-exempt organizations file an annual information return instead, and federal law (section 6104 of the tax code) makes that return a public document.

According to the IRS public disclosure overview, an exempt organization must make its annual return available for public inspection, and "the return" includes the schedules and attachments filed with it. That means Part VII and Schedule J, the two places where pay lives, are open to you.

The window is time limited. Returns must be available for three years, counted from the due date (including any extension) or from the day the return was actually filed, whichever is later.

The main thing an organization can hold back is donor identity. Other than private foundations, exempt organizations do not have to disclose contributors' names and addresses. Pay information gets no such shield.

Your right to ask the organization directly

The 2025 Form 990 instructions spell out what you can ask for under the IRS regulations:

• In person: you can inspect the return free at the organization's main office (and certain regional offices) during business hours. Staff may sit in the room, but you must be allowed to take notes.
• Copies in person: the organization should generally hand you a copy the same day, with a limited exception for unusual circumstances.
• Copies by mail or email: for a written request, the organization must mail the copy within 30 days of receiving it.
• Fees: it can charge a reasonable fee for copying and postage, but it needs your consent before charging more than $20 if you did not prepay.
• Online posting: if the organization has made the return "widely available," for example on its website, it does not have to send you a copy. It still has to allow in-person inspection.

Where to find a nonprofit's Form 990

Start with the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search

The IRS's own database, Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS), lets you pick the "Copies of Returns" database, search by the organization's name or its Employer Identification Number (EIN), and narrow results by city and state. The IRS says returns it received in 2017 or later can be viewed there one at a time or downloaded in bulk.

A few search tips:

• Use the EIN if you can. Many nonprofits have similar names, and large ones often run several related entities, each with its own return. The EIN is usually printed on the organization's website, annual report or donation receipts.
• Check for related organizations. A hospital system or university may have a foundation, a parent and subsidiaries. A top executive can be paid by more than one of them, which the 990 is supposed to capture (more on that below).
• Check the tax period. Confirm which year a return covers before you quote a number.

Other ways to get a copy

If a return is not in TEOS, you can ask the organization directly under the rules above, or ask the IRS. The IRS page on obtaining copies of exempt organization documents says you can send Form 4506-A by mail or fax, and notes that email processing for that form is not available. Many nonprofits also post their 990 on their own website, often on an "accountability" or "financials" page.

Not every nonprofit files a full Form 990

Under the 2025 instructions, an organization generally must file the full Form 990 if it has gross receipts of $200,000 or more, or total assets of $500,000 or more at year end. Smaller groups below both lines may file the shorter Form 990-EZ, and those with gross receipts normally of $50,000 or less can submit the Form 990-N e-Postcard instead. Schedule J is filed only with the full Form 990.

Some employers that feel like nonprofits do not file at all. The instructions exempt churches and certain other religious organizations, state institutions and government units, among others. Private foundations file a different return, Form 990-PF. If you cannot find a return, that may be why.

How the timing lag works

This is the part that trips people up. The pay on a 990 is never this year's pay, and it is often two years old by the time you read it.

Three things create the delay:

1. Pay is measured by calendar year. Part VII reports compensation for the calendar year that ends with or within the organization's tax year. For a nonprofit whose fiscal year ends June 30, that means the prior calendar year.
2. The filing deadline is months after year end. Form 990 is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after the tax year ends, which is May 15 for a calendar-year filer.
3. Extensions are routine. Organizations can use Form 8868 to get an automatic 6-month extension. Then the IRS has to process and post the return.

Two worked examples

Example: calendar-year nonprofit. Its 2025 return reports pay for calendar 2025. The return is due May 15, 2026, or about six months later, in mid-November 2026, if it took the extension. So in late October 2026, the newest return you can find may well be the 2024 one, describing 2024 pay.

Example: fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. The calendar year ending within that fiscal year is 2024, so Part VII shows 2024 pay. Applying the 5th-month rule, the return is due in mid-November 2025, or mid-May 2026 with an extension.

The takeaway: treat 990 pay as a snapshot from one to two years ago, not a current salary.

Part VII: officers, directors and highest-paid employees

Part VII, Section A is a table. Each row is one person, listed by name and title, sorted from highest to lowest total pay. Here is what each column tells you:

Who counts as a key employee

"Key employee" has a specific meaning. Under the 2025 instructions, a person must pass three tests: reportable pay over $150,000; a responsibility test (for example, managing a segment worth 10% or more of the organization's activities, assets, income or expenses); and being among the top 20 such people by pay. The top management official, such as the CEO or executive director, and the top financial official count as officers instead.

The IRS gives examples by role. A law school dean whose school brings in more than 10% of a university's revenue meets the responsibility test. A hospital radiologist who does not manage a department or control budgets does not, however well paid.

The extra lines below the table

Two items near the Section A table are gold for job seekers:

• Line 2 gives the total number of people the organization itself paid over $100,000 in reportable compensation, including people not named in the table. A large number here tells you six-figure pay is not limited to the C-suite.
• Section B lists the five highest-paid independent contractors that received more than $100,000. These are often law firms, fundraising firms or investment managers, but the list can show whether the organization outsources work you might do in-house.

Why Part VII numbers can look off

The instructions note that Part VII pay may differ from the officer pay total in the expense section (Part IX, line 5), because of calendar vs fiscal year timing and accounting differences. Small exclusions also apply: payments from a single related organization under $10,000, and most individual benefit items under $10,000, can be left out of Part VII.

The IRS's own example: an officer paid $6,000, $15,000 and $50,000 by three related organizations would show only $65,000 in column (E), because the $6,000 falls under the exception.

Schedule J: base, bonus, retirement and benefits

Part VII gives you totals. Schedule J breaks the pay of the most highly compensated people into pieces. The IRS describes it as the place to report compensation for certain officers, directors, trustees, key employees and highest-paid employees, plus information on certain compensation practices.

Anyone listed in Part VII whose reportable and other compensation together exceeds $150,000 gets a Schedule J row, as do listed former officers and staff.

Part II: the pay breakdown

Column (F) matters. If an executive's (B)(iii) looks huge one year, check (F). It may be a payout of deferred money that was already counted on an earlier return, not a new raise. A large (B)(iii) can also be severance for a departing leader.

Schedule J can be higher than Part VII

Items left off Part VII under the $10,000 exceptions must be included on Schedule J. So for the same person, the Schedule J total can be bigger.

The IRS instructions walk through this. An officer has $110,000 in reportable pay from the organization and $21,000 from a related organization, for $131,000, plus $11,000 in other compensation that counts toward the threshold. That $142,000 total is under the line, so no Schedule J. If the related organization had paid $30,000 instead, the total would be $151,000 and the officer would go on Schedule J, small benefit items included.

Part I: the perks and the process

Part I is a checklist of perks: first-class or charter travel, travel for companions, tax gross-ups, discretionary spending accounts, housing, club dues and personal services. It also asks whether the organization made severance or change-of-control payments.

Line 3 shows how the organization set its top executive's pay. Options include a compensation committee, an independent consultant, a compensation survey, and "Form 990 of other organizations." In other words, nonprofit boards use other nonprofits' 990s to set leadership pay. You are allowed to use them too.

What the 990 does not tell you about rank-and-file pay

Be honest with yourself about the limits. If you are applying for a program coordinator or case manager role, you probably will not see anyone at your level on the form. The data is thin for most staff jobs.

Here is what you can still get:

• The ceiling. If the five highest-paid non-officer employees are listed, the lowest of those five tells you roughly where the top of the non-executive pay scale sat that year.
• A rough average. Part IX, line 7 shows total salaries and wages for everyone not reported as an officer or key employee. Part V, line 2a gives the number of employees on the organization's W-3 for the calendar year. Dividing one by the other gives a very rough average, but it counts part-time and seasonal staff as full people and mixes calendar and fiscal years, so treat it as a sanity check only.
• Retirement generosity. Part IX, line 8 shows the employer's share of pension and retirement plan contributions, which hints at how rich the retirement plan is.
• Financial health. Revenue trends and reserves on the summary page help you judge whether a raise is affordable.

For role-level pay, pair the 990 with the posted range on the job ad, where your state or city requires one, and with role data on our salaries by role pages.

Using 990 data in a nonprofit job negotiation

Nobody likes hearing their boss's salary read back to them. Use the data to calibrate your ask, not to accuse.

Step-by-step

1. Pull the latest two or three returns. One year can mislead. Look for trends in executive pay, staff count (Part V, line 2a) and total salaries.
2. Find comparable organizations. Search TEOS for similar nonprofits in your state with roughly similar revenue. Compare what they pay for the same title.
3. Map your role to the org chart. If you are being hired as a director reporting to a listed vice president, the VP's pay tells you the ceiling above you.
4. Adjust for time. Remember the figures are one to two years old.
5. Build your number. Combine the 990 view with the posted range and market data, then pick a specific ask near the upper part of what you can defend.

Scripts you can use

At offer stage:

"Thanks for the offer. I'm excited about the role. Looking at what similar organizations in the region report on their 990s for comparable positions, and the scope we discussed, I was hoping for a base closer to [your number]. Is there flexibility there?"

If they say the budget is fixed:

"I understand. Could we look at an earlier salary review, extra paid leave, or professional development funding instead?"

What not to say: "I saw the CEO makes [amount], so you can afford more." It puts people on the defensive and rarely works. If executive pay looks out of line with staff pay, that is a governance question, not a negotiation tactic.

More approaches are in our negotiation guides, and you can follow pay-range rules on our pay trends page.

What to do next

• Find the nonprofit's EIN and search TEOS for its two most recent returns.
• Read Part VII, Section A and line 2, then Schedule J Part II for anyone over the $150,000 line.
• Note the tax year on every figure, and assume pay has moved since.
• Pull two or three similar organizations for comparison.
• If a return you are entitled to is missing, ask the organization in writing; if that fails, use Form 4506-A with the IRS.

For more employer-specific pay research, see our company pay section.