Browse 26 NTEE nonprofit categories in 2026. Find charities by type: education, health, arts, human services, environment, and more.
The National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) is the standard classification system used by the IRS and the National Center for Charitable Statistics to organize the nonprofit sector. Developed in the 1980s and refined over decades, it divides tax-exempt organizations into 26 major groups identified by single letters (A through Z), with numeric sub-codes providing further specificity.
Understanding NTEE codes helps donors, researchers, and policymakers compare organizations with similar missions. A food bank (K30) can be meaningfully compared to other food-distribution nonprofits, while a university (B43) benchmarks against peer educational institutions. This classification enables the financial ratio analysis and AI scoring that powers NonprofitSpending's transparency reports.
While no taxonomy perfectly captures the diversity of the nonprofit sector — many organizations span multiple categories — the NTEE system remains the most widely adopted framework for nonprofit classification in the United States. Organizations are assigned codes based on their primary exempt purpose as reported to the IRS.
NTEE (National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities) is a classification system developed by the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) to categorize nonprofit organizations. Each code consists of a letter (A–Z) indicating the major group, optionally followed by numbers for more specific sub-categories.
Nonprofits are assigned NTEE codes based on their primary exempt purpose as stated in their IRS filings. The IRS and NCCS use the organization's mission statement, activities, and program descriptions to determine the most appropriate classification.
The most common categories are Education (B), Human Services (P), Health Care (E), Religion-Related (X), Arts, Culture & Humanities (A), and Public & Society Benefit (W). Together these groups account for the majority of registered tax-exempt organizations in the United States.
Browse the 26 major NTEE categories below, or use the search feature to find organizations by name, EIN, or keyword. Each category page lists all nonprofits in that group with filtering options for state, revenue size, and Mission Score.
Sectors on NonprofitSpending group multiple related NTEE codes into broader thematic areas (e.g., "Health" combines codes E, F, G, and H). Categories correspond directly to individual NTEE major group letters, providing more granular classification.