top of page

Resources


Sunlight Research Center expands support for local news investigations with catalytic investment
New York, NY , May 2, 2025 The Sunlight Research Center  is pleased to announce that it is expanding its capacity to support high-impact...
May 2


Following the Money: Investigating Nonprofits and Getting to Know 990s
This tip sheet from Following the Money:Investigating Nonprofits and Getting to Know 990s provides valuable information on documents available for tax-exempt organizations, tools for finding information on nonprofits, and Nonprofit Explorer tips.
May 1


Following the Money: Investigating Nonprofits and Getting to Know 990s
Join Sunlight Research Center and Andrea Suozzo, lead maintainer of ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, for a deep dive into nonprofits and the financial records they file. After this session, you’ll be able to confidently navigate IRS Form 990s, spot red flags and uncover important details about nonprofit finances and operations.
Apr 30


How-to: Using Google Maps and Google Earth Pro to verify claims about construction history
This video lays out the steps for using Google Maps to identify the date range of when a construction project broke ground. We show you how to use Google Earth Pro to find additional images that are unavailable on Google Maps.
Apr 15


How-to: Finding congressional personal financial disclosures
This video provides detailed instructions for finding the personal financial disclosures of a congressman and ascertaining notable changes in income that can raise important questions.
Apr 15


How-to: Finding campaign committee disbursements on the FEC website
In this video, we provide step-by-step instructions to navigate the FEC website to find official campaign committee disbursements. Follow along as we explore spending details that are crucial for analysis.
Apr 15


How-to: Analyzing domain registrations using Whoxy and ViewDNS
In this video, we demonstrate how to analyze domain registrations using Whoxy, a domain search engine, and ViewDNS, a reverse IP lookup. We focus on domains linked to a specific email address. Follow along as we go through this process step by step.
Apr 15


How-to: Verify Educational Background
This video will guide you through an example of verifying an individual's educational background. Here, we find Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' attorney license using the Florida Bar Association website. Instructions are provided on how to cross-reference this information to verify education claims on his campaign website.
Apr 15


How-to: Search GovTrack
Here we show how to navigate GovTrack. We demonstrate various ways to search this database and how to set up tracking notifications on an elected official. The video shows how to search for information on certain issues and how to check for committee information and assignments.
Apr 15


How-to: Navigate the Legislator Misconduct Database
This demonstrates how to search the legislator misconduct database and set up tracking notifications on an elected member of Congress. It also shows what can be found on this website, including the accusations of misconduct and information on legislators missing roll call votes.
Apr 14


How-to: Search Senate efdSearch
This video demonstrates how one could have checked for Burr's PTRs on the Senate efdSearch database.
Apr 14


How-to: Search Congress.gov
This video shows how to navigate congress.gov and set up tracking notifications on a legislator.
Apr 14


How-to: Search USASpending
This video demonstrates how to search USASpending to find information on grants and loans given to certain companies from the US government at the federal level.
Apr 14


How-to: Search the SEC EDGAR for nonprofits, private companies, and individuals
Take a shot: In this demo, we talk about searching the SEC for nonprofits, private companies, and individuals. It's a good idea to search the SEC even if the company or individual isn't required to file. You never know what will pop up!
Apr 14


How-to: Look for UCC Filings, New York State
A UCC primer: Watch this demo to learn how to find Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings, documents that lenders use to show their legal right to assets a borrower uses to secure a loan. We will discuss what UCC filings are, what they can reveal, and how to find them. These are key because they can give information on a private company's finances, and the listed collateral can reveal assets owned by the company or individual, or even previously unknown LLCs.
Apr 14
bottom of page