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Home | Nonprofit Impact Matters
Think you know everything about charitable nonprofits? Think again!

Nonprofit Impact Matters

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92%

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

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> 10%

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

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< 3%

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

The report gives 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%).
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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:

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.

Image at top of page: supporters of the Connecticut Community Nonprofit Alliance telling legislators that community services are essential (image courtesy of the Alliance).

Second photo on page (behind the "Download the Report" button) by Stacy Brunner, used courtesy of the nonprofit Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center in Madison, WI.

Recently-Released Nonprofit Publications

Ending the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle, a report and related articles by foundation leaders (The Bridgespan Group, September 2019).

Working with five foundations, Bridgespan identified persistent chronic underfunding problems among the 15 largest foundations that threaten the financial health of grantees - and identified possible solutions.

New Hampshire's Nonprofit Sector in Brief, NH Center for Nonprofits (August 2019).

This report highlights the economic impact of New Hampshire’s nonprofits, as well as the diversity of New Hampshire’s nonprofit sector and the value of volunteerism.

Quarterly Fundraising Report Second Quarter 2019, Fundraising Effectiveness Project (September 2019).

The Project’s 2019 Second Quarter Report continues to show decreases in the number of donors and other key indicators of charitable giving.

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