Charity Navigator Nonprofit Ratings Scraper

Charity Navigator Nonprofit Ratings Scraper

Scrape Charity Navigator nonprofit ratings, financial scores, and accountability data for any cause or search query. Each charity comes with its star rating, revenue, mission, and IRS details. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Charity Navigator's website lets you browse ratings, but collecting that data at scale for research or due diligence means clicking through thousands of profiles by hand. This Actor reads the public search results and detail pages directly, filtered by cause, size, state, or minimum star rating, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape Charity Navigator for
Nonprofit researchers	Building a dataset of top-rated charities in a specific cause area for a landscape analysis.
Donor advisors	Screening charities by financial health and accountability scores before recommending them to clients.
Grantmaking foundations	Identifying potential grantees that meet a minimum star rating and operate in a target state.
Journalists	Investigating compensation, revenue trends, and governance practices across a sector.

What it does

This Actor collects Charity Navigator nonprofit profiles by search query or cause filter and returns each one as a flat row with ratings, financials, and optional full detail data.

• ⭐ Star rating filter: set a minimum star rating so only highly-rated charities reach your dataset.
• 📊 Full detail mode: toggle on to fetch leadership salaries, IRS filings, program expenses, and accountability breakdowns per charity.
• 🏷️ Cause and size filters: narrow results to a specific cause like Health or Education and a revenue band from small to super-sized organizations.
• 🗺️ State filter: restrict the search to charities registered in a single US state using its two-letter postal code.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Charity Navigator data

📋 Build a donor screening list.

A philanthropic advisor runs the Actor with a minimum 3-star rating and the Health cause to produce a shortlist of vetted charities for a client interested in medical research.

📈 Compare financial efficiency across a sector.

A nonprofit analyst scrapes all Education charities with full details enabled, then ranks them by program expense ratio to identify the most efficient organizations.

🔍 Audit leadership pay at large nonprofits.

A journalist filters by Super size and includes full details to extract CEO compensation data from IRS filings for a story on executive pay in the nonprofit sector.

🗺️ Map local giving opportunities.

A community foundation scrapes charities filtered by their state and the Human Services cause to create a directory of local organizations eligible for grants.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Star rating	Overall score and 0-4 star rating from Charity Navigator
Financial metrics	Revenue, expenses, program spending ratio, and fundraising efficiency
Accountability data	Governance practices, board composition, and whistleblower policies
Leadership compensation	Salaries of key officers and highest-paid employees when detail mode is on
IRS filings	Links to recent Form 990 filings and tax year coverage

How it compares

This Actor focuses on Charity Navigator's search and detail pages with filters for cause, size, state, and star rating, plus an optional deep-detail mode. Here is how it compares to other Charity Navigator scrapers on Apify.

Feature	ParseForge	Charity & Nonprofit Rating Scraper	Charitynavigation Details Spider
Search by keyword	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Filter by cause category	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by organization size	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by minimum star rating	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Filter by US state	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Full detail mode with leadership pay	Yes	Not listed	Yes
IRS 990 filing links	Yes	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a charity name, keyword, or cause category, and filters run as each result is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "searchQuery": "Red Cross",
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "searchQuery": "Red Cross",
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0045 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.45
1,000 results	$4.50
10,000 results	$45.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Charity Navigator Nonprofit Ratings Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Charity Navigator through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/charitynavigator-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your search query or filters are not too restrictive. Try a broader keyword or remove the state and minimum rating filters to see if results appear. Also verify the cause filter is set to 'All Causes' if you are not targeting a specific one.

The run is taking too long with full details enabled.

Full detail mode fetches each charity's profile page, which adds time. Reduce the maximum charities count or disable full details if you only need summary data from the search results page.

Some charities are missing financial data in the output.

Charity Navigator may not have complete financial data for every organization, especially very small or recently registered ones. The Actor returns whatever is publicly available on the site.

I get blocked or see errors after many requests.

The Actor includes built-in request delays to avoid overloading the site. If you still encounter issues, try reducing the maximum items count or running during off-peak hours.

The state filter is not returning expected charities.

Ensure you are using the correct two-letter postal code in uppercase. Some charities may be headquartered in one state but operate nationally, which can affect how they appear in filtered results.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Can I scrape charities by EIN?	The current input schema does not include a direct EIN field. Use the search query field with the charity name or keyword to find the organization, then verify the EIN in the returned data.
How do I get financial details like CEO salary?	Set the 'Include Full Details' option to true. This tells the Actor to visit each charity's profile page and extract leadership compensation, IRS filing links, and accountability metrics.
What is the maximum number of charities I can scrape?	You can set the maximum charities field up to 1,000,000 per run. The Actor will stop once it reaches that count or exhausts the search results.
Does this Actor require a Charity Navigator API key?	No. It reads the public website pages directly, so no registration or API key is needed.
Can I filter by star rating?	Yes. The minimum star rating field accepts a value from 0 to 4. Setting it to 3, for example, returns only charities rated three or four stars.
What does the state filter accept?	It accepts a two-letter US postal code like 'CA' or 'NY'. Leave it empty to include all states.
How long does a full detail run take?	Full detail mode visits each charity's profile page, so it is slower than a basic search run. The total time depends on the number of charities requested and current site response times.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset tab.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. Apify supports scheduled runs. You can set this Actor to run daily or weekly to track rating changes over time.
Does it handle search pagination automatically?	Yes. The Actor navigates through all pages of search results until it hits your maximum items limit or runs out of results.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Charity Navigator, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.