IRS Releases More Data on Information Returns

Hereis some news that should interest scholars desiring to conduct empiricalanalysis of the charitable sector.  Asreported by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the IRS has begun to release dataappearing on the information returns filed by charities in a format that willaid analysis.  The story states that, althoughnot everything disclosed on Forms 990 and related forms appears in the newformat, it does include “figures on sources of financial support, total assetsand revenue, spending on overhead and programs, and compensation paid to agroup’s top-paid officials.”   Themeasure has reportedly drawn praise from Tom Pollak, program director of theNational Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute, which intendsto post the data on its Web site soon.

JRB