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 similarly-named charities. 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 similarly-named charities 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 similarly-named charities'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, similarly-named charities: 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. similarly-named charities: 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 (similarly-named charities), 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 similarly-named charities (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