Databases | Public Documents
Databases | Public Documents
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Bibliome
A Mac app designed for reporters managing large volumes of documents, such as FOIA returns, court filings, and scraped PDFs. It builds a searchable library and uses a local LLM to answer questions about the corpus, citing the specific page for each answer to prevent hallucinations and allow easy verification. Pricing: $29.99 one-time purchase (no subscription, no accounts, no telemetry). Free iPhone and iPad companion that syncs via the user’s own iCloud.
How to Find Data
Presentation from NICAR 2026. Several great tips and resources.
Police Records Access Project
Cal Berkeley project with Big Local News
Earth Index
Empowering environmental defenders with AI to understand local trends.
CourtListener and RECAP
CourtListener and RECAP includes a searchable case law archive with high-quality metadata and citations.
Public Records and Databases
PublicRecords Online Directory
Good first-stop in records searching, with an image map of the U.S. to guide you in finding the records. The site is a portal to official state web sites, and those Tax Assessors’ and Recorders’ offices that have developed web sites for the retrieval of available public records over the internet. For example, some Recorders’ offices have marriage and birth records available online. Although not every county and parish has data online, many have home pages, and where neither is available a phone number has been provided.
The Accountability Project
From the Investigative Reporting Workshop, this site curates, standardizes and indexes public data to give journalists, researchers and others a simple way to search across otherwise siloed records. You can browse datasets by people, organizations and locations.
ProPublica’s Credibly Accused Priests Database
The Catholic Church has not released a public list of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct or assault. However, over the last year and a half U.S. dioceses and religious orders serving most of the Catholics in the country have released lists of “credibly accused” abusers who have served in their ranks, using their own criteria for whom to include. ProPublica collected these lists to provide a central location to search across all reports.
DataTalk
Campaign finance agent (beta). Chat with campaign finance data in plain language. Lets you use SQL to query it. Pulls from FEC.gov so it’s easy to fact-check the results. You also can upload your own data and search it. (Great use for 311 calls dataset).
Agenda Watch
Search through datasets on a variety of topics. Search for ICE, block cameras, detention centers. Has DocumentCloud built into it.
BillTrack50
AI-powered resource for finding and tracking legislation in the US. Free with paid upgrades. Built by Stanford’s Big Local News.
CourtListener and RECAP
CourtListener and RECAP includes a searchable case law archive with high-quality metadata and citations.
Federal Contracts Terminated for Convenience
This dashboard lets you explore and download data about canceled federal contracts. Use the dropdowns in the sidebar to filter the data by performance location or vendor location. Hover on the table to download the filtered data.
NICAR 26: How to Find Data Slides
A treasure trove of links to useful federal, state, local and other databases.
Github page for Big Local News
Jeff Hargarten’s ICE Github Repository
Minnesota Star-Tribune data reporter shares resources on tracking ICE data.
USA Facts
Hundreds of government-generated data and fact sheets about many issues: crime, business, public safety, etc.
OpenPayrolls – The Largest Nationwide Salary Database
Syracuse University: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)
Site is full of public records, including many with immigration data.
The Journalist’s Resource: How to Use the TRAC Site
Guide on how to navigate the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, housed at Syracuse University. Site has a lot of immigration data in it.
Incubator for Media Education and Development Lab
Site includes tools and open datasets on issues around the world.
Better Data Portals
Keyword search across data sets for Socrata data portals
DataPortals.org: Open Knowledge Foundation
Lists of about 600 data portals.
Track Dark Money Tip Sheet (NICAR 2020)
How to Find Data
Presentation from NICAR 2026. Several great tips and resources.
Police Records Access Project
Cal Berkeley project with Big Local News
Earth Index
Empowering environmental defenders with AI to understand local trends.
FEC Itemizer from ProPublica
Itemizer allows you to browse electronic campaign finance filings from the FEC Election Commission to see individual contributions and expenditures reported by committees raising money for federal elections. As of October 2018, these filings include Senate candidate or Senate party committees, which previously filed their reports on paper.
The Humanitarian Data Exchange
An open-source data portal containing more than 20,000 datasets. Show caution and vett the data you find here as it is open source. Many are posted by nonprofits and special-interest groups, which are clearly marked and have information available about them.
Journalists Free Access to Public Records
Reporters can easily find millions of records on arrests, felonies, misdemeanors, criminal driving violations, court cases, warrants, sex offenders, and much more. The tool works on all devices, and with just a name or address the needed information will be found.
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer Database
Free database to research tax-exempt organizations. You can search full text of nonprofit tax forms.
Opensecrets.org
A fantastic site for researching campaign finance statistics.
A College Journalist’s Guide to Public Records
Enigma.io
Search for billions of public records. Free search, also has paid plans.
The World Bank
Free and open access to global development data.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
How to Learn SQL: A US News Guide
Learn the basics from freelance journalist Samantha Sunne.
Documenting COVID-19
A repository of searchable documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic obtained through state open-records laws and the Freedom of Information Act. Click on a state on the interactive for details about the document sets available and news coverage that have used those materials.
Tipsheet: What I Learned from Making Dozens of Public Records Requests for Police Data
Sarah Ryley’s tips from January 2020.
State Agencies Database Project
In every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information – information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking.
Skopenow
Assists with OSINT searches as a real time search engine which allows the users to aggregate, curate and report on data. The paid desktop tool uses image-recognition AI to locate objects, keywords and behaviors from narrative and visual media data sets.
CJR Shield Law and Reporter’s Privilege: What Every Reporter Needs to Know
Free Law Project: Non-Case Records
Free Law Project resources on non-case records in the judicial branch and the need for a new “J-FOIA” public-access law. Slides from NICAR 22.
Vital Records Database
Lists links to all the state and county agencies that keep vital statistics such as birth, death and marriage records around the country. Also lists the fee the states charge for the records.
SAM: System for Award Management
Free site that lets you search government records for entity registration and exclusion records.
WNYC Police Misconduct Records
A state-by-state breakdown of police misconduct records, with links to databases.
50-Plus Public Records Requests to Make Now
MediaFest 22 presentation and tips from Todd Wallack of WBUR in Boston.
Wired: Redacted Documents Are Not as Secure as You Think
OCCRP Aleph
OCCRP Aleph is an investigative data platform that helps reporters follow the money. Search across data and documents from previous investigations, official sources, and scraped databases. Aleph is more than just a document search engine: it also imports structured data from spreadsheets and databases, enabling journalists to explore detailed data about persons of interest, companies, financial transactions, and more. Reporters and researchers can upload their own files to private investigations, extract text, sketch a diagram to summarize their investigative findings, and cross-reference persons of interest and companies.
Journalist’s Resource: Disappearance for Federal Health Databases
How Factal is Covering Russia’s War on Ukraine
990 Finder
The Foundation Center and GuideStar combine their data so journalists can find the most recent Forms 990s from charities and foundations.
Resources from NICAR 20 and 21
Searchable list of tipsheets, primers and tools from Sharon Machlis.
The Force Report
Five years. 72,677 documents. Every local police department in New Jersey.
The Guardian’s Counted Project
Tracks people killed by US police.
OpenStates.org
Search for bills or legislators across all states.
Sqoop
Gives you one place to search for company information, rather than spending hours each week conducting the same repetitive searches on a variety of public data sites.
National Security Archive
35 years of public documents curated by George Washington University’s library.
FBI Vault
The Vault is the FBI’s FOIA Library, containing 6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your home or office.
Klaxon
Track changes on websites. Good for monitoring public records pages.
Division I College Sports FOIA Directory – The Intercollegiate
List of PIOs for each Division I athletic department.
CIR: Who Gets Paid What in Your City/County/State?
Public employee pay database from Center for Investigative Reporting.
ProPublica: Trump Town Appointees Database
Search appointees, staff, etc. in this database and their employment histories.
Propublica: Nonprofit Explorer
Search Form 990s.
IRE Census Page
IRE has boiled down Census data for journalists to use.
CensusReporter.org
Filter and sort census information. Super tool.
R for Journalists
Tips and resources for anyone using R in data reporting
Download Data Without Scraping
Filter and sort census information. Super tool.
Data.World
Free, downloadable data sets.
Census Mapper
Visualize 2020 Census data with this tool from Stanford’s Big Local News and the Google News Initiative, among others.
Data Commons
Part of the Google News Initiative, this is an open knowledge repository that combines data from public datasets using mapped common entities. It includes tools to easily explore and analyze data across different datasets without data cleaning or joining.
ProPublica Database: Fortune 500 Companies Funding Election Deniers
Look up companies nationally and locally in this database. They have funded dozens of congressmen, Senators and candidates who are election deniers.
Foreign Assistance
The U.S. government’s flagship website for making U.S. foreign assistance data available to the public. It serves as the central resource for budgetary and financial data produced by U.S. government agencies that manage foreign assistance portfolios. Data downloadable as spreadsheets.
U.S. Department of Justice:Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) EFILE
Disclosures from foreign agent principals. Search by country, name, etc.
UN Comtrade Database
Free access to global trade data
Lobbying Disclosure
The Secretary of the Senate is required to make all reports filed under the LDA, as amended, available to the public over the Internet. Database is searchable and data downloadable.
SAM.gov
Look up government contracts in a country.
Excess Military Defense Articles Database
Track the sale of excess military equipment.
Import Genius
Search global import/export records from US Customs at the bill of lading level for 8 million businesses.
Access to Archival Databases
National Archives records back to the 1970s.
Global Environment Climate Tracker
Kobo Toolbox
Data collection tools.
Overview
Analyze and visualize documents.
Open Corporates
The largest open database of companies in the world.
USASpending.gov
Lets you explore the entire federal budget in increasing granularity, illustrating how awards derive from federal accounts. Interactive visualizations provide help building context, and multiple breakdowns clarify the relationships between federal-spending components
Awesome Public Datasets Repository
A Github page linking to thousands of helpful sets. Be sure to fact-check what you find.
City of Chicago Data Portal
The site “serves as a single, comprehensive database catalog for the City of Chicago and City of Chicago sister agencies. It is a resource for anyone who is interested in understanding what data is held by City agencies and departments, how and if it may be accessed, and in what formats it may be accessed.”
Five Great Tools for Mining Public Records
Journalist Studio
A deep collection of data viz tools from Google.
Google: Pinpoint
Explore and analyze large collections of documents. It’s easy and free.
The Chemical Hazard Data Commons
A free tool to help journalists quickly research chemical hazards for over 60,000 substances and hundreds of thousands of synonyms. Aggregates hazard determinations from a wide range of state, national and international governmental scientific bodies into a quick thumbnail view. Find chemicals, get GreenScreen List Translator Scores, check chemicals against RSLs, and link chemical identifiers and key characteristics. The Data Commons lets you create groups of chemicals to compare and track their hazards.
RECAP
This browser plug-in helps you with finding court documents you’d normally have to pay for in PACER. Every docket or PDF you purchase on PACER will be added to the RECAP archive. Anything somebody else has added to the archive will be available to you for free — right in PACER itself. Tens of thousands of people have used RECAP. To join them, simply install it using the button above, and then use PACER as you normally would. It’s that simple.
Open Corporates
A large database of companies.
Congressional Research Services: CRS Reports Search
AggData
Purchase datasets of retail locations. Example: Find all In-n-Out burger locations.
Footnoted.com
Morningstar’s guide to what’s hiding in SEC filings.
RecordsBase
Public records search tool.
Bureau Local Collaborative Investigative Journalism Tools
Student Press Law Center: Public Records and Sexual Assault Reporting
BRB Publications
Search public records by state.
Washington Post: Police Shootings Database (2015-2020)
HospitalInspections.org
A database of federal inspections of hospitals in the U.S. See how the ones in your area stack up.
Journalism Tools: Investigative Resources
A Pinterest page full of investigative tools and resources.
Changedetection.io
Website change detection and notification, monitors changes in website content, easily alerts you via slack, discord, telegram, email and 80-plus more. Easily setup keyword triggers, compare pages. Also monitors JSON feeds and other data.
ExpertAccess
The vast collection of LexisNexis news sources for story pitches and in-depth research. Fast, easy searches to find just what you need.
OpenGovernment
The site provides tools and blueprints for making government more accessible and transparent. It also contains repeatable projects that are relevant to journalists across the globe.
US Local Data Portals
This Github account lists dozens.
Sqoop
Compiles and organizes tens of thousands of SEC, PACER and patent filings.
National Freedom of Information Coalition
State Sample FOIA Request Letters
Great collection from National Freedom of Information Coalition.
Student Press Law Center: FERPA Law Basics
Warehouse of Government Labor Data
Data on union elections, labor relation consultant filings, notices of intent to bargain and much more. Compiled by Forest Gregg of Chicago’s DataMade.
AllAreGreen.us Browser Extension
A free browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari that exposes the role money plays in Congress. Displays on any web page detailed campaign contribution data for every Senator and Representative, including total amount received and breakdown by industry and by size of donation. Puts vital data where it’s most relevant so you can discover the real impact of money on our political system. Oh, and it was built by a 16-year-old coder.
ComFind Public Records Site
News, laws, initiatives and activities that relate in any way to the keeping and distribution of information and public records.
Subsidy Scope: Searchable Database of TARP Transactions
From the Pew Charitable Trusts, links to a list of banks participating in the FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
Tamara Thompson Public Records Links
A treasure trove of databases, links and resources from a California private investigator.
Deteriorating Bridges Database
Sort files in Excel to find bridges and overpasses in your area that are in poor shape. Great public safety story.
LegiStorm
A database of congressional staff salaries and other valuable public records, such as the most comprehensive database of all privately financed trips taken by members of Congress and congressional staffers.
Cal Berkeley Public Records Tutorials
RighttoKnow.org
Australia’s version of FOIA Machine.
City-Data.com
This site has collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create profiles of all U.S. cities. It features thousands of pictures, maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment…), geographical data, crime data, housing, businesses, political contributions, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list.
The Murder Accoutability Project
A nonprofit group organized in 2015 and dedicated to educate Americans on the importance of accurately accounting for unsolved homicides within the United States. It pullsinformation from federal, state and local governments about unsolved homicides and to publish this information. The Project’s Board of Directors is composed of retired law enforcement investigators, investigative journalists, criminologists and other experts on various aspects of homicide.
DeathIndexes.com
A handy state-by-state index of death records databases. A great research for quick searches.
POPVOX
Journalists can find every bill in Congress, searchable by keyword or category, with official information such as summary, sponsors, status, and a list of the organizations that support or oppose the bill, with a link to those positions.
IC on the Record Tumblr
This U.S. government site is dedicated to helping the public better understand what its various intelligence agencies are doing.
BBC Data Unit
More than 65 public interest datasets from their Github page.
NYT Campaign Finance Database API
National Personnel Records Center
A central repository of personnel-related records, both military and civil service. “Provide world-class service to government agencies, military veterans, former civilian Federal employees, family members, as well as researchers and historians.”
PublicRecordSources.com
Hundreds of free sites, database sources, trade organizations and private investigators.
Data.gov
A government data mashup that is an initiative of the Obama administration.
USCourts.gov: Journalist’s Guide to the Federal Courts
Free Public Records Directory
Free state court resources.
The Scoop Blog
CAR and investigative reporting.
Electronic Privacy Information Center: Open Government
Tips, guides and links galore on public records access.
GlassDoor.com
Ratings, reviews and salaries for more than 11,000 employers. It’s information posted by anonymous employees, so be careful with the information you use. Fact-check everything. It can be helpful as a quick snapshot of a company you’re backgrounding.
State and Local Governments
A directory of links to state and local government sites.
Online Vital Records Directory
An independent service provider from where you can get all information about vital records office as public information.
AnnualReports.com
Like its name implies, access corporate annual reports from this database.
Stanford Law: Securities Class Action Lawsuit Clearinghouse
Docusearch.com
This site claims to be “the place to find, locate & track down anybody! We offer locate searches, DMV driver & vehicle searches, telephone record searches, financial and bank searches, criminal and property records. Some searches are free, others you must pay for.
Public-Information.com
This site charges a fee. Search state/local criminal, DMV, prison records and more.
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
A great database from Cal-San Francisco that contains 20 million fully searchable documents from the1930s to the 1990s — previously secret stuff from tobacco industry files obtained as part of the Minnesota AG and Blue Cross lawsuit settled in 1998.
Center for Public Integrity
Tips and resources on using public documents, including campaign finance research.
Bibliome
A Mac app designed for reporters managing large volumes of documents, such as FOIA returns, court filings, and scraped PDFs. It builds a searchable library and uses a local LLM to answer questions about the corpus, citing the specific page for each answer to prevent hallucinations and allow easy verification. Pricing: $29.99 one-time purchase (no subscription, no accounts, no telemetry). Free iPhone and iPad companion that syncs via the user’s own iCloud.
PropertyShark.com
This website which makes real estate public records in New York and New Jersey easily accessible. It is free for moderate usage, i.e. citizens, reporters.
PI Newslink
A blog for private investigators/researchers.
Better Government Association (Illinois) Data Tools
Findlaw Breaking Documents Newsletter
A free e-mail newsletter updating journalists on the availability of public documents used in big, breaking news stories (Enron, war on terrorism, etc.)
RAND Corporation Research Areas
Federally funded documents center has a clearinghouse page of links to a variety of topics: national security, international affairs, healthcare, transportation, etc.
NYC Stat
Mayor’s office of operations for New York City. Stats, performance reports, surveys, etc.
Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records
Electronic Privacy Information Center
A government site that offers FOIA tips and more.
Your Right to Federal Records
Brochure explains how you access records under FOIA.
National Freedom of Information Coalition
Organization info., tips, conferences and more.
SkipEase.com
A specialized directory for people and public records searching.
Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws 2002
A guide for working through the FOIA/open government process. It is published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center..
Forbes: Most Philanthropic Corporations
SLA News Division: Surveys and Forms Section
Great resources for public documents and research.
Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Wise Giving Alliance (Give.org)
Charity Navigator
Another good charity evaluation site. Allows you to search alphabetically and by region.
EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory
“A publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities.”
CriminalWatchDog.com
Provides criminal background reports to employers, landlords or anyone wishing to ensure their safety. Users can access their own private database of saved criminal record reports. U.S. state, county, national, federal and sex offender registry reports are available.
Cemetery Records Online
Maintains records from 4,307 cemeteries both nationwide and abroad. The site regularly updates users on which cemeteries have been added to their database.
Zillow.com
Evaluate real estate value using this tool.
Trulia
It’s a real estate site that contains a lot of community demographic information. It can give you a quick snapshot of schools, real estate, etc.
The Smoking Gun
This is a good FOIA site that claims to find documents that can’t be found elsewhere on the Web. Its material is gleaned from government documents, court files, etc.
Fundar
More public records from Mexico.
Carroll’s Government Directories and Charts
Tips on finding government agency Web sites, including labor boards, workers compensation boards, etc.
IQ Data Systems
Real estate information and full document retrieval from every U.S. jurisdiction.
International Association of Assessing
This site can direct you to a source who can help you find real estate records.
VitalChek Network
Certified copies of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates.
Vital Records Information
Certified copies of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates.
Roots Web
Provides a listing of searchable indexes for family history as well as a listing of federal and state resources.
Birth Rates by Country
An Infoplease chart containing both years and “selected countries.”
Social Security Administration
Securities & Exchange Commission
National Student Clearinghouse Research Center
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Employment, wages, unemployment broken down by region.
Social Security Administration Data on Women
A new site with demographic info. on women.
National Security Archive: Mexico’s FOIA Law (June 2002)
GovernmentAttic.org
“Interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.”
SearchSystems.net
Great one-stop shopping for links to public records databases.
HeyStacks
A data portal full of public spreadsheets and documents. Nothing is verified so approach with caution.
SEDAR Database
System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) provides databases of public company documents and investment fund documents. Includes company profiles, links and new filings.
Sunlight Foundation
Political watchdog group that tracks lobbyists and fundraising.
GIJN Resource Center
Welcome to the GIJN Resource Center, a space designed to help investigative journalists around the world. Topics include data journalism, reporting tools, digital security and more.
Form 990s | Charities
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Look up Form 990s on non-profit organizations. Search by state an type of organization as well.
990 Finder
The Foundation Center and GuideStar combine their data so journalists can find the most recent Forms 990s from charities and foundations.
Charity Watch
Look up compensation for foundation officials, state-by-state regulatory agency and more
Charity Watch: Resources for Donors and Journalists
Charity Watch: State Charity Regulators
Find who is regulating charities in your state as it varies by government agency. Includes contact information. Also available at the National Association of State Charity Officials.
IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search
National Center for Charitable Statistics
Part of the Urban Institute, this site has some older data on charitable giving.
Charity Intelligence Canada
Similar to the US’s Charity Watch.
The Journalist’s Resource: Where to Find Public Records, Data on Charities
The Journalist’s Resource: How to Read a Form 990
The Journalist’s Resource: Covering Nonprofits: Questions, Answers and Tips for Following the Money
National Charities Information Bureau
One of the better sites for digging up Form 990s.
Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Wise Giving Alliance (Give.org)
Charity Navigator
Another good charity evaluation site. Allows you to search alphabetically and by region.
Internet Nonprofit Center
Several tools for reporters covering nonprofits; good 990s database.
National Association of Attorneys General
This site has links to state attorney general’s offices.
National Freedom of Information Coalition
National Center for Charitable Statistics
Database of 990 information from the IRS Master File.
National Fraud Information Center
Established by the National Consumers League.
CauseIQ
Search this huge database of nonprofit organizations. The org also has tools to help nonprofit organizations if your newsroom is a nonprofit.
National Freedom of Information Coalition
Philanthropy.com
An online newspaper for non-profit organizations. Some helpful research and databases. A must-read for reporters covering charities.
National Charities Information Bureau
A good site for tracking spending and income from charities.
IRS.gov: Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organization Returns and Applications: Public Disclosure Overview
An exempt organization must make available for public inspection its annual information return (e.g., Form 990, Form 990-EZ). Returns must be available for a three-year period beginning with the due date of the return (including any extension of time for filing) or, if later, the date it is actually filed.
Finding Data | Writing FOIAS
Google Dataset Search
Search for data in this Google search tool.
US Local Data Portals
This Github account lists dozens of portals.
DataPortals.org
A list of nearly 600 data portals from around the world.
Better Data Portals
Keyword search across data sets for Socrata data portals
Our World in Data
Datasets and charts on nearly 300 different topics from around the world.
Statista
Portal of studies and research for data viz.
USA Facts
Hundreds of government-generated data and fact sheets about many issues: crime, business, public safety, etc.
990 Finder
The Foundation Center and GuideStar combine their data so journalists can find the most recent Forms 990s from charities and foundations.
Tableau: Datasets for Students
Links to dozens of datasets on many topics. Good for any reporter.
Whatcha_got (Github Repo)
A command line tool that lets you do keyword searches of public data portals without knowing which data sets are available or what fields they contain. For example, you could search Chicago’s data portal for the address of a business and the name of its owner, and get results from inspections, lobbyist records, contracts, etc. It accepts multiple keywords and removes duplicate records. You could then run the same search on a different city/state/entity as long as they also use Socrata.
The Humanitarian Data Exchange
An open-source data portal containing more than 20,000 datasets. Show caution and vett the data you find here as it is open source. Many are posted by nonprofits and special-interest groups, which are clearly marked and have information available about them.
Open Addresses
Community-hosted data on Github. Street names, house numbers and postal codes, when combined with geographic coordinates, are the hub that connects digital to physical places. It’s crowdsourced, so fact-check the data.
Datasets Every Government Reporter Should Have
HeyStacks
A data portal full of public spreadsheets and documents. Nothing is verified so approach with caution.
50-Plus Public Records Requests to Make Now
MediaFest 22 presentation and tips from Todd Wallack of WBUR in Boston.
US Department of Education Civil Rights Data
Tracks demographics data from US public schools in the US.
Humanitarian Data Exchange
Over 20,000 open-source datasets on topics such as education, natural disasters, etc.
FOIA Resources
The FOIA Machine
Automate your FOIA requests.
Amazon 990 Filings
Machine-readable data from certain electronic 990 forms filed with the IRS from 2011 to present are available for anyone to use via Amazon S3.
RCFP Open Government Guide
Great collection of state-by-state resources from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
FOIA Mail
Send hundreds of similar FOIA requests and organize the responses all using the Google suite.
Video: How to Use FOIA – Tips from the Washington Post
Dedupe.io
Deduplicate and find matches in your Excel spreadsheet or database.
iFOIA.org
From the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, this is a one-stop management tool for public-records projects and filing FOIA requests.
Department of Justice FOIA Page
Division I College Sports FOIA Directory – The Intercollegiate
List of PIOs for each Division I athletic department.
SPLC: FOIA Letter Generator
Great for generating requests with this form. Also has a FERPA letter generator.
RTI Rating
Ranks freedom of information laws around the world.
GovernmentAttic.org
Provides electronic copies of thousands of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Fascinating historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers, they’re all here.
FOIA Wiki
Launched in October 2016 in Beta, this offers a page of tools, links and resources on using FOIA.
WRAL: How to Submit a Public Records Request Like a Pro
FOIA 101
Slideshow of tips from Jared Rutecki, investigative reporter from Better Government Association in Chicago.
FOIA.gov: Federal FOIA Requests
MuckRock: State-by-State Public Records Laws
FOIA Wiki: FOIA Basics
A good primer for newbies.
FOIA Predictor
Use this browser app to predict success of your FOIA request.
GIJN: Unlocking Laws to Set Information Free: GIJN’s Global Guide to FOI and RTI
FOIA.Wiki
This free and collaborative resource on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act is provided by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, with contributions from The FOIA Project at TRAC, MuckRock, The National Security Archive, FOIA Mapper, Open the Government, and users. Remember to double-check anything you find here as anyone can edit the Wiki.
MuckRock
From its site: “MuckRock makes it easy file Freedom of Information requests, taking out the hassle and only updating you with the results. No need to stamp an envelope, look up an agency address or learn how to properly draft a legal demand: Just type what you’re interested in, click submit and then receive your documents scanned, searchable and sharable. We’ll even help you analyze them.”
GIJN: FOIA Laws
FOIA laws from more than 100 countries.
Global Right to Information Rating
Gov Book: FOIA Contacts in Chicago
List of contacts curated by The Chicago Reporter.
MuckRock: Guide to State Public Records Laws
FOIAFest 2018 Resources
Links, handouts, tools and more from the Chicago FOIAFest event.
National Security Archive
Combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents.
The FOIA Project
Its goal: provide the public with timely and complete information about every instance in which the federal government grants or withholds records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
DePaul University: FOIA Resources for Journalists
How to file a FOIA and state FOIA laws.
Census.IRE.org
Provides journalists with a simpler way to access 2010 Census data.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Guides
Resources on public documents, First Amendment, privacy and more.
The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information
National Security Archive: Freedom of Information Act Resources
From George Washington University.
U.S. Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act Information
ProPublica: How Much Stimulus Money is Your County Receiving?
Student Press Law Center: FOIA Letter Generator
Just fill in the blanks.
FIRE: Guide to Free Speech on Campus
Book/ebook from the Foundation of Individual Rights on Campus.
Investigative Dashboard
A treasure drove of research and public records tools, both U.S. and abroad.
Washington Post Training Videos: How to be a Journalist
Series of videos on basics of reporting, FOIAs and more.
FOIA Shaming
A fantastic Tumblr blog that shines a spotlight on universities that stonewall FOIA requests. Share it on social media.
Crime Statistics and Databases
OCCRP Aleph
OCCRP Aleph is an investigative data platform that helps reporters follow the money. Search across data and documents from previous investigations, official sources, and scraped databases. Aleph is more than just a document search engine: it also imports structured data from spreadsheets and databases, enabling journalists to explore detailed data about persons of interest, companies, financial transactions, and more. Reporters and researchers can upload their own files to private investigations, extract text, sketch a diagram to summarize their investigative findings, and cross-reference persons of interest and companies.
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
News on corruption and organized crime by a global network of investigative journalists across six continents
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
From the State University of New York at Albany.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
Searchable databases of 500+ criminal-justice data collections.
Dallas Police Watch
Shows Active Incidents being managed by Dallas Police Dept officers. Uses publicly available City of Dallas SOCRATA data, reformatted by divisions.
Jail Data Initiative
The Jail Data Initiative, published by New York University, offers the most up-to-date jail data in the country, yielding unprecedented insights into who is in our nation’s local jails, for how long, and why. An automated data system captures and connects daily publicly available data from over 1,300 county jail rosters—roughly one-third of the nation’s jails—to the dashboard, which can be filtered by geography, demographics, and time frame. It’s free, easy to use, and can provide important context in future stories about local jails or the collective state of our nation’s jails.
Washington Post: Police Shootings Database (2015-2020)
Mass Killings in America Database
A massive database launched in October 2022 by USA Today, AP and Northeastern University.
The Murder Accoutability Project
A nonprofit group organized in 2015 and dedicated to educate Americans on the importance of accurately accounting for unsolved homicides within the United States. It pullsinformation from federal, state and local governments about unsolved homicides and to publish this information. The Project’s Board of Directors is composed of retired law enforcement investigators, investigative journalists, criminologists and other experts on various aspects of homicide.
The Guardian Australia’s Indigenous Deaths in Custody
The Guardian’s Counted Project
Tracks people killed by US police.
International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes
The Force Report
Five years. 72,677 documents. Every local police department in New Jersey.
Tips for Covering Lower-Level Courts
Kendall Taggart from Buzzfeed News at the 2016 IRE conference.
Chronicle of Higher Education: Title IX Tracker
Searchable database of campus sexual assault cases.
Tools for Reporters: Title IX Tracker and Other Tools for Covering Campus Crime
Clery Center for Security on Campus
Campus crime data and compliance information.
US Dept. of Education: Campus Safety and Security
Download nationwide campus crime data.
Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool
Analyze college campus crime statistics with this resource from the Office of Postsecondary Education, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
Chronicle of Higher Education: Tracking Sexual Assault Investigations
WNYC Police Misconduct Records
A state-by-state breakdown of police misconduct records, with links to databases.
PoliceForum.org
Site features cops from large jurisdictions and has done lots of stuff on police shootings, etc.
WHO@ (Working to Halt Online Abuse)
Resources, stats, facts and protection tips about online stalking.
ChicagoCrime.org
Uses Google maps to track crime patterns.
CriminalWatchDog.com
Provides criminal background reports to employers, landlords or anyone wishing to ensure their safety. Users can access their own private database of saved criminal record reports. U.S. state, county, national, federal and sex offender registry reports are available.
Stanford University: Prison Experiment
An online tour of a 1971 psychology experiment on California college students sent to prison. Photos, video, background. Interesting research.
BlackBookInfo
Contains links to a number of databases including unclaimed property, railroad accidents, currency converter, attorney and physician profiles, language translators, crime reports, etc.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
A guide to official government statistics and information on various crime stats.
Government Data
Data.gov
A clearinghouse of datasets from federal and some state/local agencies.
House Disbursements Database
A quarterly public report of all receipts and expenditures for U.S. House of Representatives Members, Committees, Leadership, Officers and Offices. The House has been required by law to publish the SOD since 1964.
Senate Disbursements Database
Since 1823, the secretary of the Senate has published the semiannual statements covering the periods from October 1st to March 31st and April 1st to September 30th of each year.
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Reports galore on public safety, homeland security, health, etc.
USASpending.gov
Lets you explore the entire federal budget in increasing granularity, illustrating how awards derive from federal accounts. Interactive visualizations provide help building context, and multiple breakdowns clarify the relationships between federal-spending components.
Foreign Assistance
The U.S. government’s flagship website for making U.S. foreign assistance data available to the public. It serves as the central resource for budgetary and financial data produced by U.S. government agencies that manage foreign assistance portfolios. Data downloadable as spreadsheets.
U.S. Department of Justice:Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) EFILE
Disclosures from foreign agent principals. Search by country, name, etc.
OpenPayrolls – The Largest Nationwide Salary Database
UN Comtrade Database
Free access to global trade data
Lobbying Disclosure
The Secretary of the Senate is required to make all reports filed under the LDA, as amended, available to the public over the Internet. Database is searchable and data downloadable.
SAM.gov
Look up government contracts in a country.
Excess Military Defense Articles Database
Track the sale of excess military equipment.
Import Genius
Search global import/export records from US Customs at the bill of lading level for 8 million businesses.
Access to Archival Databases
National Archives records back to the 1970s.
Global Environment Climate Tracker
GovExec.com
Magazine on federal government and military.
Office of Personnel Management
Federal government human resource agency.
FederalRegister.gov
Daily journal of the U.S. government lets you browse agencies and topics. Good for digging up sources. The site is jointly managed by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO).
Center for Digital Government
Affiliated with Government Technology magazine, this organization has people who will talk to you, although they tend to be on the technology-is-the-solution side of things.
The National Journal
A weekly on politics and government published in Washington, put out a Guide to the Web in its Dec. 8, 2001 issue that probably would be helpful because it includes lots of government sites.
Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
A resource for journalists who want to stay current on open government developments or to learn more about access issues at the federal level.
Federal Consumer Information Center
GovExec.com
The online version of Government Executive magazine.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
A non-partisan research organization focusing on analysis of government programs affecting low- and moderate-income people.
USA Facts
Hundreds of government-generated data and fact sheets about many issues: crime, business, public safety, etc.
National Archives and Records Administration Research Page
Sections for federal government, courts, textual records, microfilm, etc.
ForeignPolicy.com
Users have instant access to the best the Web has to offer on global affairs, governments, think tanks, libraries and multilateral institutions.
NY Times: Newsroom Navigator Politics Section
Center for American Women and Politics
National Archives and Records Administration
Look up just about anything on this government-run database.
Common Cause
Washington watchdog group includes articles and studies the organization has done on the influence of campaign contributions on Congress.
Congressional Research Services: CRS Reports Search
Warehouse of Government Labor Data
Data on union elections, labor relation consultant filings, notices of intent to bargain and much more. Compiled by Forest Gregg of Chicago’s DataMade.
Publicagenda.org
Inside source for public opinion and policy analysis on dozens of social issues.
Government Computer News
Leading provider of integrated information and media for the government information technology market. Blog, print magazine, white papers and more.
Social Security Administration Data on Women
A new site with demographic info. on women.
U.S. State Department Living Abroad Guidelines
Dozens of links to helpful resources for U.S. citizens on exchange rates, vital records, emergency services and more.
EditorsWeb.org
Internet portal to stories and news releases from Washington.
GovernmentAttic.org
“Interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.”
National Center for Education Statistics
A complete electronic catalog and fast facts.
Birth Rates by Country
An Infoplease chart containing both years and “selected countries.”
Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies
Influence Explorer
From the Sunlight Foundation, OpenSecrets.org, and the Project on Government Oversight, this site tracks voting trends of politicians. Great first-stop for tracking conflicts of interest or investigating a politician.
The Jamestown Foundation
The organization’s mission is to “inform and educate policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information.” Includes a news archive, press releases and other resources.
Citizens Against Government Waste
A private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the U.S. federal government.
Forms.gov: Federal Forms Catalog for Citizens
A hub for federal government forms. Search forms across government agencies.
Internal Government Forms for Federal Employees
FederalTimes
Federal government news, operations, agency management, etc.
ProPublica: How Much Stimulus Money is Your County Receiving?
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