Word.ws English Dictionary

501(c)(3)

501(c)(3) noun: an organization that complies with section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. federal tax code. A non-profit organization exempt from some federal income taxes, due to being dedicated to charitable, religious, educational, scientific, public safety, promotion of amateur sport at the national or international level, prevention of cruelty to women or children or animals, or literary purposes.

Noun

501(c)(3) (plural 501(c)(3)s)

  1. (US, organizations) An organization that complies with section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. federal tax code. A non-profit organization exempt from some federal income taxes, due to being dedicated to charitable, religious, educational, scientific, public safety, promotion of amateur sport at the national or international level, prevention of cruelty to women or children or animals, or literary purposes.
    • After the law was enacted in 2007, AIPAC, which had sponsored congressional trips to Israel since the 1990s, campaigned to create an exception for 501(c)(3) organizations that lobbying groups could use to get around the law. Both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups are tax-exempt nonprofits, but...2023 November 18, Murtaza Hussein, “Meet the Secret Donors Who Fund AIPAC’s Israel Trips for Congress”, in The Intercept

Forms of 501(c)(3)

plural501(c)(3)s
alternative form501c3
alternative form501 c 3
alternative form501-c-3
alternative form501.c.3.
alternative form501(c)3
alternative formc3

Origin of 501(c)(3)

From the section of the U.S. federal tax code.

Questions about 501(c)(3)

What does 501(c)(3) mean?
501(c)(3) means an organization that complies with section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. federal tax code. A non-profit organization exempt from some federal income taxes, due to being dedicated to charitable, religious, educational, scientific, public safety, promotion of amateur sport at the national or international level, prevention of cruelty to women or children or animals, or literary purposes.
What part of speech is 501(c)(3)?
501(c)(3) is a noun.
What is the plural of 501(c)(3)?
The plural of 501(c)(3) is 501(c)(3)s.

Words near 501(c)(3) in the dictionary

  1. 501
  2. 501 c 3
  3. 501 c 3s
  4. 501 c 4
  5. 501 c 4s
  6. 501(c)(3)
  7. 501(c)(3)s
  8. 501(c)(4)
  9. 501(c)(4)s
  10. 501(c)3
  11. 501(c)3s

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 501(c)(3) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “501(c)(3).” Word.ws, https://word.ws/501(c)(3). Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.