Too often I hear people referring to ALL nonprofit organizations as a 501(c)3, and they are not. So, I thought it would be beneficial to list the various types of nonprofits. Here is a list from Internal Revenue Services of the types of nonprofit organizations:

501(c)(1) — Corporations organized under acts of Congress such as Federal Credit Unions
501(c)(2) — Title holding corporations for exempt organizations
501(c)(3) — Various charitable, non-profit, religious, and educational organizations (see below)
501(c)(4) — Various political education organizations (see below)
501(c)(5) — Labor Unions and Agriculture
501(c)(6) — Business league and chamber of commerce organizations (see below)
501(c)(7) — Recreational club organizations
501(c)(8) — Fraternal beneficiary societies
501(c)(9) — Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations
501(c)(10) — Fraternal lodge societies
501(c)(11) — Teachers’ retirement fund associations
501(c)(12) — Local Benevolent Life Insurance Associations, Mutual Irrigation and Telephone Companies and like organizations
501(c)(13) — Cemetery companies
501(c)(14) — Credit Unions
501(c)(15) — Mutual insurance companies
501(c)(16) — Corporations organized to finance crop operations
501(c)(17) — Employees’ associations
501(c)(18) — Employee-funded pension trusts created before June 25, 1959
501(c)(19) — Veterans’ organizations
501(c)(20) — Group legal services plan organizations
501(c)(21) — Black lung benefit trusts
501(c)(22) — Withdrawal liability payment fund
501(c)(23) — Veterans’ organizations created before 1880
501(c)(25) — Title-holding corporations for qualified exempt organizations
501(c)(26) — State-sponsored high-risk health coverage organizations
501(c)(27) — State-sponsored workers’ compensation reinsurance organizations
501(c)(28) — National railroad retirement investment trust
501(d) — Religious and Apostolic associations
501(e) — Cooperative hospital service organizations
501(f) — Cooperative service organizations of operating educational organizations
501(k) — Child care organizations
501(n) — Charitable risk pools
521(a) — Farmers’ cooperative associations
527 — Political organizations

To get more detailed information go to IRS Publication 557 pages 60 and 61 to review an Organizational Reference Chart. It is a very handy tool when deciding what type of nonprofit you are starting, and what paperwork is necessary.

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