Open Bankruptcy Project is a 501(c)(3) public charity. The Internal Revenue Service recognized OBP as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code by determination letter dated April 6, 2026, effective March 27, 2026.
- Employer Identification Number (EIN): 41-5159631
- Public charity classification: 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) — publicly supported organization
- Contribution deductibility: Donations are tax-deductible under IRC § 170. Bequests, devises, transfers, and gifts also qualify under §§ 2055, 2106, and 2522.
- Fiscal year ending: December 31
- Annual return: Form 990-N (e-Postcard) for the initial fiscal year; Form 990-EZ or Form 990 once gross receipts exceed applicable thresholds.
Mission
The Open Bankruptcy Project builds free, open-source tools that screen federal bankruptcy cases for statutory compliance failures. We make public court data accessible and understandable to the people it affects most — debtors, advocates, researchers, and policymakers.
Every tool we build is free. Every dataset we produce is open. We accept no attorney referral fees, run no advertising, and harvest no user data. Our work is funded entirely by tax-deductible public donations.
What Makes OBP Different
- Real data, not opinions. Our findings are drawn from 4.9 million federal bankruptcy cases in the FJC Integrated Database - the largest publicly available dataset of its kind. We publish the data and the code that generates every finding.
- No ads. No referrals. No conflicts. We do not accept attorney advertising, referral fees, or sponsorships from legal service providers. This independence is structural: our articles of incorporation prohibit it.
- Fully open-source. Every screening tool, analysis script, and dataset is published on GitHub. Anyone can audit, reproduce, or build upon our work without permission or payment.
- Recognized by the federal judiciary. Our research was accepted by the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules as Suggestion 26-BK-3 (March 2026, automated Section 1328(f) discharge bar screening) and Suggestion 26-BK-5 (April 2026, Rule 9037 / Forms 121 & 309E1 SSN exposure remediation).
- Accessible to everyone. Bilingual (English and Spanish), free forever. No paywall, no login, no tracking beyond anonymous analytics.
History
Methodology
Our screening tools analyze the Federal Judicial Center's Integrated Database, which contains filing-level records for all federal bankruptcy cases. We cross-reference prior filing histories against statutory discharge bars in Sections 1328(f), 727(a)(8), and 109(g) of the Bankruptcy Code.
The methodology identifies cases where a debtor's prior filing history would trigger a statutory bar that was not flagged at the point of case initiation. It forms the empirical basis for Suggestion 26-BK-3, accepted by the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules. The methodology has not undergone formal double-blind academic peer review; we publish full methodology and code openly and welcome critique.
Full methodological details are available on our Methodology page.
Institutional Engagement
OBP's work has produced verifiable institutional engagement to date:
- Federal Rules Committee - Suggestions 26-BK-3 and 26-BK-5, based on OBP research, were accepted by the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules; Suggestion 26-BK-5 was forwarded to the Standing Committee.
- Free Law Project - OBP contributes case data to the RECAP Archive, the largest free repository of federal court documents. 549+ cases and 3,100+ files donated to date. See the live national index at /cases/.
We are actively building relationships with law school clinics, legal aid organizations, and empirical legal researchers. Interested parties can reach us at research@openbankruptcyproject.org.
Leadership
OBP was founded by a small business owner who experienced systemic failures in the bankruptcy system firsthand and built the tools to measure them. The project grew from a single screening tool into a national research platform.
Governance
The Open Bankruptcy Project is organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Our articles of incorporation include an unamendable anti-acquisition clause: the organization cannot be sold, merged, or acquired under any circumstances.
We maintain strict independence from attorney advertising, legal referral services, and commercial legal technology companies. We do not accept funding that would create conflicts of interest with our mission of public transparency.
Contact
- General: info@openbankruptcyproject.org
- Press: press@openbankruptcyproject.org
- Research: research@openbankruptcyproject.org
- GitHub: github.com/openbankruptcyproject