Our compliance data, open to AI assistants
Last Updated: October 1, 2026
We keep the nonprofit compliance rules for all fifty states as about 5,700 separate records. Each one names the statute it rests on, the agency that issued it, and the date someone last checked it.
Those records are now readable by AI assistants directly. Ask your assistant what Kansas requires of a new 501(c)(3), and it can answer from a sourced record instead of from whatever it happens to remember.
Why we did this
People are already asking assistants these questions. They were getting answers assembled from training data, with no citation, no date, and no way to tell a settled rule from a contested one.
The records were always on this site, free to read. This changes who can read them conveniently, not what is published.
What you can ask
- The requirements for one state. Formation, governance, charitable solicitation registration, reporting, tax and employment, with an option to narrow to one topic.
- One topic across several states. For deciding where to incorporate, or for an organization working in more than one.
- Every filing deadline in one state. What is due, when, on what form, for what fee.
What comes back
Every answer carries four things with it: the official source, a link to the page on this site where the rule appears, the date it was last checked, and a verification status.
That last one matters most. A record is labeled source_verified when it is mapped to an official source that says what the record says. It is labeled review_required when we have found a conflict, a gap or an ambiguity we have not resolved.
We publish the unresolved ones anyway, because knowing a question is open is more useful than silence. But the label travels with the answer, and the license forbids stripping it. Presenting an unsettled requirement as settled is the one use of this data that can genuinely hurt someone.
How to connect
The address is https://mcp.501c3.help/. It speaks the Model Context Protocol, which is the open standard assistants use to reach outside data.
In Claude Code, one line:
claude mcp add --transport http 501c3 https://mcp.501c3.help/
In a desktop assistant, add it as an HTTP or remote MCP server with that same address. The server is also listed in the protocol's official registry under the name help.501c3/compliance, so some clients will find it by name alone.
Limits
| Calls per day, no registration | 50 |
| Calls per day with a free key | 1,000 |
| Records in one answer | 25 |
| Bulk download | not offered |
The limits exist so that one caller cannot make the service unusable for everyone else. If yours is too low for honest use, write and say so.
What it costs
Nothing, and there is no application. Use it in your practice, in a product, in research or in teaching.
For a free key, write to [email protected] and say what you are building. We ask because we want to be able to reach you if a record changes materially, not to charge you.
Before you act on anything here
These records are not legal advice and not tax advice, and they do not come from any government agency. Compliance rules change, agencies reorganize, and fees are revised. Check the cited source before acting, and check it again before advising anyone else.
The full terms are on the Data License page.