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When Congress held hearings to investigate allegations of anti-Semitism on campuses in December 2023, the presidents of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania attended. At the same time, ProPublica's nonprofit Explorer saw a surge in visits to the three universities' pages. When the same congressional committee held further hearings in April, featuring former Columbia University president Nemat Shafik, visits to the universities' pages on the site peaked.
When The New York Times ran a story in August about GLAAD's CEO's extravagant spending patterns, including lavish travel and home office remodeling, we noticed a corresponding spike in visits to the organization's financial page, which was the organization's most-viewed site for two consecutive days. GLAAD spokesman Rich Ferraro defended the organization's spending, saying the travel was an expense to further the group's advocacy goals and the office remodeling helped the CEO make more on-camera appearances.
It's a pattern we've seen time and time again: when a nonprofit breaks in the news, people turn to Nonprofit Explorer to check out the organization's financial health for themselves. Today, we're adding a new feature called “Featured Nonprofits” to highlight organizations that may be featured in the news or frequently shared on social media. This feature, which appears on the Nonprofit Explorer homepage, lists the eight organizations with the most unique views and is updated multiple times a day.
Some organizations appeared on the list because of temporary spikes in traffic caused by breaking news, but they also reflect longer-term trends. The Heritage Foundation, for example, was the most-viewed nonprofit for most of July, thanks to ongoing coverage that delved into the controversial Project 2025 playbook, including a Project 2025 training video published by ProPublica. The organization did not respond to a request for comment.
The most consistently popular organization on Nonprofit Explorer is the Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation. The nonprofit is known for hosting large charity events, such as a 5K run through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel to the former site of the World Trade Center complex. The organization was the most-viewed charity for 120 days in the past year.
Nonprofit Explorer: Explore tax-exempt organizations
The group's professed goal is to use donations to buy homes for families of fallen military personnel and first responders. These efforts have garnered media attention, with the group consistently ranking among the top three most visited groups on the site. When traffic to the group's Nonprofit Explorer page began to slow in June 2024, it returned to the top spot after The New York Times reported that the group was the primary source of income for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's internet show America's Mayor Live. The show reportedly brought in about $16,000 a month for one of Giuliani's companies, and the former mayor was accused of trying to hide the source of his income in bankruptcy court. A Giuliani spokesman told the paper that the group is “proud to be associated with” the group. Neither Giuliani nor the Tunnel to Towers Foundation responded to requests for comment.
We know that reporters and others often use Nonprofit Explorer to research nonprofits, so to avoid a small number of people bumping your nonprofit onto the trending list, we only count unique visitors to your page, meaning that repeat visits by the same person won't push your nonprofit onto the trending list.
We hope you enjoy this feature as much as we do, and it could be a great signal that it's time to find out more about your nonprofit.
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