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Nonprofit Impact Matters

92%

Most nonprofits are small and community-based, serving local needs: 92% spend less than $1 million annually; 88% spend less than $500,000.

>10%

Nonprofits employ more than 10% of America’s private workforce – more than manufacturing, construction, or finance.

< 3%

Less than 3% of nonprofits lobby to advance their missions – compared to 100% with the legal right to do so.

The report aims to give you free access to trusted information
about the extraordinary American treasure known as charitable nonprofits.

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What's In The Report?

America’s 1.3 million charitable nonprofits enrich the lives of everyone, in ways both seen and unseen. Nonprofit Impact Matters pulls back the curtain and tells the story of nonprofits from their perspective. It also provides practical insights and key national- and state-level data.

Nationwide, there are 12.3 million nonprofit employees and more than 64 million nonprofit board members and other volunteers.
The nonprofit sector - as a whole - earns more than 80 percent of its revenue (through fees for services and government contracts and grants), receiving another 14 percent of its revenue thanks to donations by individuals (10.2%), foundations (2.9%), and corporations (0.9%).
Approximately 72 percent of charitable nonprofits in the U.S. are led by women, but female Executive Directors/CEOs are paid less than their male counterparts.

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This is a wonderful wealth of information. It's a critical summary of the issues facing nonprofits, and starts to get at what the average person can do and what nonprofits can do.

Sharon Stapel,

President & Executive Director, Nonprofit New York

Thank you for developing this excellent piece!

David Heinen,

Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits

At a high level, I like what I see here; the columns graphic with SNAP cuts compared to top foundation endowments is compelling.

Chris Cardona,

Program Officer, Philanthropy, Ford Foundation

We Can Face Our Challenges Together

Operating a nonprofit is not easy these days. Several challenges exist. Some are internal to each organization. Others are external and larger than any one organization can address alone. By tapping into the power of nonprofit networks, including for advocacy, nonprofits can continue improving lives and creating more equitable and thriving communities.

The public’s needs for human services were greater in 2017 in three-quarters of the states than they were when the Great Recession began in 2008.

The increase in needs for human services has been documented by multiple recent studies cited and explained in the report. Those increasing needs have strained the ability of many nonprofits, especially small to midsized nonprofits in local communities.

All nonprofits, just like for-profit businesses, need a reliable and supportive public policy environment.

Nonprofit missions are vulnerable to actions by policymakers who, whether intentionally or not:

Take away needed resources, such as by levying taxes on tax-exempt nonprofits and limiting or eliminating charitable giving incentives;
Impose unfunded mandates by cutting government budgets and expecting nonprofits and foundations to fill the voids;
Establish unwieldy regulatory burdens;
Interfere with nonprofits’ legal independence; and
Otherwise change laws in ways that disrupt the work of nonprofits.

Policy threats occur not just at the federal level, but also at the state and local levels.

A change in federal law can have nationwide ramifications, but changes in a state’s laws can be just as consequential for the nonprofits in that state. And data show the odds of policy changes being made are much greater at the state than the federal level.

Nonprofits can overcome these challenges by embracing the proven wisdom that more can be accomplished by working together than by operating separately.

Nonprofits’ strength is in our collective numbers. Nonprofits exist in every community, are closest to the problems, and understand the issues.

Since nonprofits see the solutions to the community’s challenges firsthand, nonprofits should be sharing their insights with policymakers to help them make informed decisions. Policymakers need and deserve to hear the voices of their nonprofit constituents.

Nonprofits have the constitutional right, statutory authority, and moral obligation to advocate and even lobby on behalf of our organizations and the individuals and communities they serve. In fact, charitable nonprofits can—and absolutely should—speak out on matters of public policy that affect their missions.

Recently-Released Nonprofit Publications

“The True Story of Nonprofits and Taxes,” Jon Pratt, Nonprofit Quarterly (Spring 2019).

The article presents data showing that while nonprofits received $137 billion in tax preferences from exemptions and deductions, nonprofits paid about $247 billion in taxes and fees to various governmental entities.

Nebraska’s Nonprofit Sector: Economic Impact Report, Nonprofit Association of the Midlands (April 2019).

The report informs policy makers, industry leaders, nonprofit leaders, and community members about the size, focus, and impact of the nonprofit sector on the economy and the quality of community life across Nebraska.

“Giving Is Up Slightly in 2018, But Only Due to Larger Gifts,” Fundraising Effectiveness Project (Spring 2019).

Fundraising Effectiveness Project (Spring 2019). The Project’s 2018 Fourth Quarter Report shows decreases in the number of donors and other key indicators of charitable giving.