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To create the list of 1,906 organizations, News21 gathered records from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, or NCCS, containing figures from the tax returns of public charities filed from 2001 through 2011.
After gathering the data, News21 targeted organizations classified and coded as veterans’ and military charities. News21 also added organizations using keyword searches. More than 100 additional charities were added after a further News21 analysis identified them as veterans’ or military nonprofits.
News21 excluded the more than 30,000 veterans’ organizations exempt under Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal law treats these organizations (such as Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion) differently than 501(c)(3) public charities.
NCCS documentation says that the IRS data-entry process is “geared toward speed and data entry errors occur.”
