A nonprofit with 20 or more staff writes constantly: grant proposals and the reports that follow them, program manuals, evaluation plans, board packets, volunteer training, and years of email between program staff, funders and partner agencies. AI companies license copies of records like these, and in our reading they are worth something because they show people planning real work on a tight budget and then explaining the results to whoever paid for it.
Two buyers speak to nonprofits by name. Mode writes its page for a business or nonprofit and asks most of them for 20+ full-time US office staff, and Polyshares lists nonprofit in its intake as an industry and as an ownership type. No buyer prices nonprofits on their own, and published ranges across buyers mostly run $100K to $2M, as their own claims.
Donors and the people you serve come first in any conversation. Start with what staff wrote to run the organization, such as grant narratives, program SOPs, evaluation templates and training guides, and put donor records, case files and anything from a funder's confidential process on the list to raise with the buyer. Whether the board signs off is one of the questions listed below. The quiz shows which buyers take an organization your size.
Worth
What a nonprofit's data may be worth
Set for a typical nonprofit, 35 staff and 12 years of records. Move the sliders to match yours. Our estimate, not an offer.
Buyers
Which buyers want this data
Buyers whose own published rules fit nonprofits and foundations. We can introduce you to the ones we work with.
micro1
Asks for SOPs, playbooks and knowledge bases and takes organizations with 30+ employees, a fit for a larger program operator with written procedures.12,13
- $100K to $2M+, micro1 says7
Watch out for: Says it removes personal details only "when relevant", so ask exactly how.14
Polyshares
Lists nonprofit as an intake industry and not-for-profit or association as an ownership type, and says it excludes data held on behalf of clients.2,15
- $100K to $2M+, Polyshares says9
- None, Polyshares says16
- An offer in 1 to 2 weeks, then paid in 30 to 60 days17
Watch out for: Exclusive by default, and every deal it lists is exclusive with no end date.18,19
Mode
Its page is written for a business or nonprofit, it buys an agreed copy directly with no broker fee, and the systems and date ranges are set in writing before export.1,20,21
Watch out for: The program launched in October 2026 and has no deal record yet.23
Grepped
Reads only the sources you approve and lets you leave out any system, folder or record type, so a donor database never has to be connected.24,25
Watch out for: Its own site code calls its estimator "deliberately optimistic", so treat any estimate as an indication.26,27
Who wants this
Do buyers want nonprofits and foundations?
No buyer publishes prices by industry, but their own intake forms show which industries they rate higher.
- Troveo puts something else (nonprofits are not listed) in its third of four demand tiers: "Standard buyer demand for your industry."28
- Polyshares takes nonprofit, without marking it premium.29
Which buyers take a nonprofit your size
Shown for 35 staff, a typical nonprofit. Ask whether contractors and part-time staff count.
micro1
Polyshares
No headcount rule; the length and texture of the record matter more31
Mode
20+ full-time US office staff (accounting firms 10+, law firms 6+)6
Pewter
20+ staff and 3+ years; by industry, from 10+ (healthcare) to 50+ (manufacturing, finance)32,33,34
Grepped
No headcount minimum stated35
Ventra
30+ US employees and 3+ years of records36
Mercor
None stated37
Troveo
No minimum stated; its estimator starts at 2038
Nyne
20+ US W-2 employees and 3+ years39
Endless
Roughly 30+ employees40
Supersoniq
50+ employees and 5+ years41
What buyers value
What in a nonprofit's records buyers value
What buyers look for in your records, and what to talk through with your buyer before anything leaves your systems.
| Data | Where it lives | Why a buyer values it | Raise with the buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grant proposals and funder reports | Google Docs, Word, Submittable or Fluxx | A need, a plan and a budget argued to a funder, then the results reported back a year later. | Funder names and any reviewer comments shared in confidence. |
| Program manuals and service SOPs | Notion, shared drive | How a service is delivered step by step, refined over years of doing it. | Nothing specific |
| Evaluation plans and impact reports | Excel, Google Sheets, Word | How outcomes are defined, measured and written up, with the method in plain view. | Any figure built from individual client records. |
| Board packets and minutes | Board portal, email | How a board weighs budget trade-offs and strategy, in writing. | Personnel matters and anything from an executive session. |
| Volunteer and staff training | An LMS, slide decks, Google Drive | Training written for people new to the work, often built around scenarios. | Nothing specific |
| Staff email and team chat | Outlook or Gmail, Slack or Teams | Day-to-day coordination with partners, funders and volunteers. | Donor and client names inside threads. |
A week of records
A week of data at a nonprofit
- Monday: the development director drafts a renewal proposal from last year's narrative and this year's outcome numbers.
- Tuesday: program staff update the intake SOP after a partner agency changes its referral form.
- Wednesday: the finance lead and executive director trade emails about cutting one line from the board budget.
- Thursday: the volunteer orientation deck is revised for a second site.
- Friday: the quarterly funder report goes out, its data summary written up from the evaluation template.
Process
How it works with each buyer
In each buyer's own words. Where a buyer publishes nothing, we say so.
micro1
- Internal docs, SOPs and playbooks, knowledge bases, project management workflows, internal comms, templates, CRM and workflow metadata, task histories12
- 30 to 200 employees30
- $100K-$2M+ per data package; over $1M for unique data7
- PII removed "when relevant"14
- The company keeps ownership of its data and reviews samples before release42
- Not published
Selling or closing
Selling or closing your nonprofit? License its data first
Nonprofits merge, hand programs to partner organizations and sometimes dissolve, and in our reading the written record of how the work was done ends up in storage. If a merger or wind-down is coming, ask the buyer you're working with whether program manuals, training material and grant writing could be offered before the files are archived, kept apart from donor and client records. Pewter works with firms that are winding down or already closed, so ask whether a nonprofit in that position qualifies.3
FAQ
Nonprofits and foundations: questions, answered
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- How are donor names, gift histories and prospect research notes removed, and who checks the sample?
- How are records about the people we serve, including case notes, kept out of the export?
- Do donor privacy statements we have published limit what can be shared?
- Does the board need to approve the license, and does the income need special reporting?
- How do CCPA, GDPR, UK GDPR and state privacy laws apply, and is de-identified data still personal information?
- Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
- How is the payment taxed?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?