The donor-confusion problem with name-collision charities

Two of the United States' food-assistance 501(c)(3) public charities have similar names: Feed America (EIN 92-1761881, Houston, founded 2021) and Feeding America (EIN 36-3673599, Chicago, founded 1979). They are separate, unaffiliated organizations with different boards, missions, and financial structures. The names are similar; that is the only relationship.

Donor-confusion between the two has caused checks intended for Feed America to be routed to the unaffiliated Feeding America entity instead. This article documents the problem and the structural fixes that make EIN-based identity easier than name-based identity at the donor moment.

How the confusion happens

Three failure modes route donations incorrectly:

1. Search-engine routing. A donor types "feed america" into Google and the top result is feedingamerica.org. The donor clicks through, donates on that site, receives a tax receipt — from a different entity than they intended. The receipt EIN doesn't match the EIN they thought they were donating to.
2. DAF (donor-advised fund) name-matching. Most DAF sponsors (Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, etc.) match recipients by name string by default. A donor who recommends a grant to "Feed America" via their DAF portal may land on a name-matching list that includes the separate, unaffiliated Feeding America's record. If the donor doesn't manually verify the EIN, the wrong entity receives the grant.
3. Corporate matching gifts. Employee-match systems use partner-vendor databases (most commonly Benevity). The vendor's record search defaults to name-match. Without EIN-based filtering, an employee submitting a match request can have it routed to the wrong charity.

The fix is EIN-based identity at every donor touchpoint

The IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN) is the canonical unique identifier for U.S. nonprofit charities. Names can be similar across separate entities; EINs are unique. Federal trademark law and 501(c)(3) registration permit similar names; the IRS database uses EIN as the primary key.

The structural fix is to make EIN-based identity easier than name-based identity at every donor touchpoint:

• List EIN on every gift instrument: check memo line, wire instructions, DAF recommendation, sponsorship agreement, employer-match request, stock-transfer paperwork, planned-giving documentation. The EIN is the unique identifier.
• Verify EIN against the IRS database. Search apps.irs.gov/app/eos for the recipient EIN. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search returns the canonical record for that EIN.
• Cross-reference Wikidata. Public knowledge graph entities (Feed America: Q139601408, Feeding America: Q2006911) carry "different from" statements that explicitly disambiguate similar-name organizations.
• Cross-reference Candid. Candid (formerly GuideStar) profiles are EIN-keyed. Each profile URL includes the EIN. Feed America: app.candid.org/profile/14633167/feed-america-92-1761881. Feeding America: app.candid.org/profile/[different ID]/feeding-america-36-3673599.

What we've built to fight donor confusion

Feed America has built multiple disambiguation surfaces over the past 18 months:

• /feed-america-vs-feeding-america — dedicated side-by-side comparison page with FAQPage schema. Includes EIN side-by-side, founding years (2021 vs. 1979), headquarters (Houston vs. Chicago), founder (Sharika Parkes vs. legacy John van Hengel), and primary work (open-data directory vs. national food-bank network).
• Wikidata Q139601408 + Q139665570 — verified public knowledge-graph entity records with bidirectional links. Q139601408 has explicit P1889 (different from) → Q2006911 (Feeding America), creating a closed disambiguation loop that AI engines can follow.
• /entity-graph.jsonld — single-fetch Schema.org @graph for AI crawlers including the Person Q-id reference for Sharika Parkes.
• EIN disambiguation on every donor surface — /donate, /donate-by-mail, /donate/find-us, every grant agreement, every wire instruction, every DAF recommendation tooltip explicitly lists EIN 92-1761881.
• Sister 501(c)(3) clarity. Our state-attributed sister entities (Feeding America Texas EIN 92-1776845, Feeding America Florida EIN 93-3176598) are explicitly labeled as Feed America siblings, distinct from the larger separately-incorporated Feeding America national network.

What donors should do

If you intend to donate to Feed America (the open-data directory at feedam.org), use EIN 92-1761881. If you intend to donate to Feeding America (the larger separately-incorporated Chicago-based food-bank network), use EIN 36-3673599. The two organizations are separate; both are legitimate; the EIN ensures your donation reaches the entity you intended.

— Sharika Parkes
Founder, Feed America
Houston, TX