Benevity MCP Server
Provider-hosted Claude connector that lets AI assistants search Benevity's database of 2.3M+ verified nonprofits by cause, location, and mission.
The Benevity Nonprofit MCP server is a provider-hosted Model Context Protocol connector that exposes Benevity's verified nonprofit database to AI assistants. Built and maintained by Benevity, it launched on Giving Tuesday 2025 (December 2, 2025) as part of Anthropic's Claude for Nonprofits program, alongside connectors from Candid and Blackbaud. Users can search more than 2.3 million verified charitable organizations by keyword, cause area, and location, then receive structured details about each nonprofit's mission, programs, geographic reach, and official website.
The connector is read-only and is designed for charitable discovery rather than transactional donation processing. Search results are powered by the Benevity Search Engine API with relevance ranking, and queries become more precise when users include specific cause areas, locations, or program types. The connector returns up to ten organizations per query and links out to verified nonprofit websites so users can donate directly with the organization. No Benevity account, login, or API key is required by the end user, and no personally identifiable information is sent to Benevity from the Claude conversation.
Unlike open-source MCP servers, there is no GitHub repo to clone or self-host. The connector is enabled inside Claude through the Connectors directory and is available to users on paid Claude plans (Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise). It is positioned for individual philanthropists, nonprofit researchers, and corporate social responsibility teams who want conversational discovery of vetted charitable organizations.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
Nonprofit search |
Search Benevity's database of 2.3M+ verified nonprofits by keyword, cause area, location, or program type. Returns up to ten ranked results per query. |
Organization details |
Return detailed profile information for a matched nonprofit, including mission statement, program descriptions, geographic reach, and a verified link to the organization's website. |
The Benevity connector is provider-hosted by Benevity and enabled inside Claude. There is nothing to install locally and no API key is required.
Prerequisites
- A paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise
- No Benevity account is required
Enable for an individual user
- Open Claude and go to Settings then Connectors
- Click Browse connectors
- Search for Benevity and select it
- Follow the prompts to add and authorize the connector
Enable for a Team or Enterprise organization
- Sign in as an organization owner
- Go to Admin settings then Connectors
- Click Browse connectors
- Search for Benevity and click Add to your team
- Members can then enable it from their personal Connectors page
Notes
- The connector is read-only. It cannot process donations, only return nonprofit information and verified website links.
- Benevity has not published a public custom-connector URL or MCP config JSON. Access is through Claude's Connectors directory rather than a generic MCP client config.
- Conversations with the Benevity connector follow Claude's standard privacy practices, and no personally identifiable information is shared with Benevity.
- Help a donor discover verified nonprofits aligned with a specific cause such as mental health, food insecurity, or animal welfare in their local area
- Research a nonprofit's mission, programs, and geographic reach before making a personal or corporate donation
- Power CSR and employee giving research by surfacing vetted charities in regions where a company has offices or initiatives
- Assist grant teams and individual philanthropists in shortlisting organizations addressing a specific social issue
- Generate curated lists of nonprofits for newsletters, giving guides, or volunteer drives with links back to verified organization websites
- Help me find a verified nonprofit in Thousand Oaks, CA focused on mental health and specifically suicide prevention
- Help me find a nonprofit close to me that can help with food insecurity
- Find animal shelters near me that I can donate to
- Suggest five international nonprofits working on clean water access and summarize each one's programs
- Build a shortlist of US-based literacy nonprofits serving children under 12, with their official websites
- Official connector built and maintained by Benevity, drawing on the same vetted nonprofit dataset used in Benevity's enterprise giving platform
- Zero setup friction: no API key, no Benevity account, no local server to run
- Covers more than 2.3 million verified organizations with strong US coverage and international reach
- Returns verified website links, reducing the risk of users landing on fraudulent charity sites
- Read-only. The connector cannot initiate or process donations, payroll giving, or volunteer signups.
- Limited to paid Claude plans and to clients that support Claude's Connectors directory, not a generic remote MCP URL that any MCP client can configure.
- Public documentation is sparse on exact tool names, parameters, and rate limits, so programmatic integration outside Claude is not well documented.
- Candid MCP connector for Claude, which exposes Candid's nonprofit data (Form 990s, GuideStar profiles) to AI assistants
- Blackbaud MCP connector for Claude, focused on fundraising and donor management workflows for nonprofit organizations
- Benevity's Giving API, a direct REST integration for partners that need transactional donation, volunteering, or grants functionality beyond search