A parent seeking donations for their school’s charity auction becomes concerned about whether she should be including the school PTA’s tax ID number on the auction donation letters, forms, and so forth.

It’s easy to understand the concern.

We’ve been warned about putting our birth date on Facebook, cautioned against using our social security number as a computer password, and shake our heads when we recall that our social security number used to be used as our driver’s license number.  Stories of identity theft fuel our fear.

But this tax ID number is readily available in the public domain.  And as you’ll have greater success in your procurement efforts if you include the number on your letters, you’ll want to find it.

Perhaps the easiest way to locate the number is to go online.  Here’s how I have helped my clients find their 501(c)(3) number.

1. Visit www.Guidestar.org and log-in.  You’ll need to create an account (it’s free) if you don’t have one. You can look up some information without an account, but you’ll need it for this task.

2.  Enter the name of the charity you want to find.  The easy-to-use screen will help you narrow down your search.

3.  Click on the organization you seek.  The page will load with a number of publicly filed forms.  Click on “Forms 990s and Docs” tab.  The 990 forms are in PDF format.

4. Open the most recent 990 PDF and find the entry underneath “Employer Identification Number.”  (I’ve always seen it in the upper right side of the first page.)  Voila!  That’s the the tax ID number which defines your organization as a 501(c)(3).

I’ve also been told that you can look it up on the IRS site.  That makes sense to me, but as I’ve always been able to find what I needed on Guidestar, I haven’t fooled around with the IRS site.

If you’ve found another easy way to locate the tax ID number for your charity auction donation letters or forms, please share it below.

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P.S.  Get educated and fully inspired in your charity auction procurement with this 60-minute .mp3 tutorial to accompany the free “What Sold Like Heaven in 2011″ auction item guide.