Research a Business or Nonprofit
Before conducting business with a company or donating to a charity, do your research. You can find information about the trustworthiness and financial status of a business or nonprofit from various sources:
Licensing
Any reputable business or nonprofit must have all the appropriate licenses.
- Contact your state government or your local government to check with their business regulatory or licensing agency to learn whether a company has the proper licenses to do business in a state.
- Check with a state consumer protection agency for information they may have on file about a company.
Complaints History
Review the complaints record of a company or charity to determine its trustworthiness:
- The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has a comprehensive database of reviews on businesses and charities. You can also find out if a company is a BBB member from your local BBB chapter.
- Contact your state insurance commission, securities regulator, banking authority, or utilities commission to find out if others have filed a complaint against a company in your state.
- Find out whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a case against a company. To see if someone filed a complaint with the FTC against a company, you can make a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
- Check with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB's) consumer complaint database to find out if someone filed a complaint about a bank, lender, or financial service provider.
Financial and Tax Records
Find out if a company is making money or losing money, and why, before you do business with it. Check the federal tax status and filings of an Exempt Organization (EO) before donating money to it:
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provides information about a company's finances or financial records.
- Contact the U.S. Commercial Service, which can provide financial background checks on companies based outside the U.S.
- Find out from the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) whether a company is a corporation in good standing and has filed annual reports with the state through the secretary of state where the company is incorporated.
- Use the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS') Tax Exempt Organization Search tool to look up information about tax-exempt organizations, such as whether they are eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable donations.
- GuideStar provides data on nonprofits and community foundations from several IRS sources.