I am working on a business venture that requires information about charities and their mission statements. There is a website called CharityNavigator that has compiled the public information about charities from the IRS and displayed it on their website. The website is openly accessible and searchable without paying any fees to access this information. The company does, however, charge $20,000 to get access to deeper levels of information on the charities through their API (a way to directly connect to their database).
My shayla is, am I allowed to pull the information from their website about the charity’s basic information they openly make available, and given that this information is readily available from the IRS, albeit in a scanned paper version, or would it not be allowed because Charity Navigator has a premium service in which they charge to access a direct datafeed with customizable search criteria (something which I dont need).
Thank you!!
Answer:
Readily available information displayed on their website may be copied. The premium service is to receive the information in a more proficient, usable way.
