The Nonprofit World: Its Size and Scope

November 9, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes

Nonprofit groups are growing in number and in wealth, show new data released by the Urban Institute, in Washington. The number of nonprofit organizations recognized by the Internal Revenue Service grew by 27 percent from 1994 to 2004, according to a preview of the Nonprofit Almanac 2007, released last month.

Revenue, expenses, and assets of nonprofit groups grew far faster than the rest of the economy during that time. While the gross domestic product rose 37 percent, those three major measures of the financial health of nonprofit groups grew by at least 56 percent.

Highlights of the data released last month are available on these pages; the entire almanac is expected to be available in January. More information about the almanac can be found at http://www.urban.org.

GROWTH OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, 1994-2004

Percentage change 1994-2004 (adjusted for inflation)

Nonprofit organizations

1.1 million

1.2 million

1.4 million

27.0%

n/a

Reporting nonprofit organizations

388,631

398,405

486,982

25.3

n/a

Revenues

$678-billion

$950-billion

$1,361-billion

101.0

61.5%

Expenses

$621-billion

$851-billion

$1,255-billion

102.0

62.6

Assets

$1,252-billion

$2,052-billion

$2,967-billion

137.0

90.7

Charitable nonprofit organizations

576,133

724,446

949,133

65.0

n/a

Reporting charitable nonprofit organizations

179,390

243,612

299,033

67.0

n/a

Revenues

$538-billion

$763-billion

$1,050-billion

95.0

57.1

Expenses

$503-billion

$698-billion

$981-billion

95.0

56.9

Assets

$777-billion

$1,331-billion

$1,819-billion

134.0

88.3

NUMBER OF CHARITIES BY CAUSE AND BY FINANCIAL SCOPE
			By dollar amount			By share
	Total number	Percent	Revenue	Expenses	Assets	Revenue	Expenses	Assets
Arts, culture, humanities	32,056	10.7%	$24,350	$20,934	$72,465	2.3%	2.1%	4.0%
Education	53,074	17.7	171,118	150,034	534,440	16.3	15.3	29.4
Higher education	1,682	0.6	121,570	107,433	405,443	11.6	10.9	22.3
Other	51,392	17.2	49,548	42,600	128,997	4.7	4.3	7.1
Environment, animals	11,753	3.9	9,655	8,473	27,336	0.9	0.9	1.5
Health care	38,633	12.9	616,449	588,299	748,340	58.7	60.0	41.1
Hospitals and primary-care facilities	3,139	1.1	446,433	426,672	539,604	42.5	43.5	29.7
Other	35,494	11.9	170,016	161,627	208,736	16.2	16.5	11.5
Human services	103,171	34.5	142,306	137,296	209,307	13.6	14.0	11.5
International and foreign affairs	5,694	1.9	19,618	18,787	17,145	1.9	1.9	0.9
Public and societal benefit	35,249	11.8	57,376	49,102	189,567	5.5	5.0	10.4
Religious	17,670	5.9	8,643	7,790	20,154	0.8	0.8	1.1
Unknown/unclassified	1,733	0.6	619	556	566	0.1	0.1	0.0
All public charities	299,033	100.0%	$1,050,134	$981,271	$1,819,320	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

STATE-BY-STATE FINANCES OF NONPROFIT GROUPS, 2004
	Revenue	Expenses	Assets
Northeast	$301,750,000,000	$281,962,000,000	$586,052,000,000
New England	100,537,000,000	89,765,000,000	256,035,000,000
Connecticut	20,683,000,000	18,014,000,000	57,619,000,000
Maine	6,834,000,000	6,477,000,000	9,066,000,000
Massachusetts	57,343,000,000	50,845,000,000	159,547,000,000
New Hampshire	6,124,000,000	5,657,000,000	13,659,000,000
Rhode Island	6,832,000,000	6,256,000,000	11,525,000,000
Vermont	2,721,000,000	2,516,000,000	4,620,000,000
Middle Atlantic	201,213,000,000	192,197,000,000	330,017,000,000
New Jersey	30,119,000,000	29,211,000,000	49,575,000,000
New York	107,483,000,000	103,282,000,000	170,505,000,000
Pennsylvania	63,611,000,000	59,704,000,000	109,937,000,000
Midwest	246,409,000,000	231,192,000,000	429,010,000,000
East North Central	171,417,000,000	161,723,000,000	291,629,000,000
Illinois	48,259,000,000	45,618,000,000	91,784,000,000
Indiana	21,378,000,000	19,892,000,000	38,460,000,000
Michigan	32,055,000,000	30,837,000,000	48,193,000,000
Ohio	47,456,000,000	44,895,000,000	80,885,000,000
Wisconsin	22,270,000,000	20,481,000,000	32,307,000,000
West North Central	74,992,000,000	69,468,000,000	137,382,000,000
Iowa	8,783,000,000	8,090,000,000	18,980,000,000
Kansas	6,909,000,000	6,506,000,000	9,965,000,000
Minnesota	23,601,000,000	22,115,000,000	41,176,000,000
Missouri	22,868,000,000	20,852,000,000	47,546,000,000
Nebraska	6,507,000,000	5,967,000,000	11,274,000,000
North Dakota	2,672,000,000	2,476,000,000	3,153,000,000
South Dakota	3,650,000,000	3,463,000,000	5,289,000,000
South	293,634,000,000	273,336,000,000	508,254,000,000
South Atlantic	178,139,000,000	164,903,000,000	318,869,000,000
Delaware	2,225,000,000	2,038,000,000	9,762,000,000
District of Columbia	21,148,000,000	20,172,000,000	32,253,000,000
Florida	42,438,000,000	39,267,000,000	64,813,000,000
Georgia	24,566,000,000	22,819,000,000	43,919,000,000
Maryland	$24,794,000,000	$22,576,000,000	$52,190,000,000
North Carolina	25,593,000,000	23,213,000,000	47,225,000,000
South Carolina	7,408,000,000	6,832,000,000	14,667,000,000
Virginia	24,814,000,000	23,038,000,000	47,849,000,000
West Virginia	5,153,000,000	4,948,000,000	6,191,000,000
East South Central	40,836,000,000	38,551,000,000	68,133,000,000
Alabama	7,132,000,000	6,821,000,000	11,498,000,000
Kentucky	11,418,000,000	10,984,000,000	15,466,000,000
Mississippi	4,676,000,000	4,347,000,000	7,399,000,000
Tennessee	17,610,000,000	16,399,000,000	33,770,000,000
West South Central	74,659,000,000	69,882,000,000	121,252,000,000
Arkansas	8,462,000,000	8,387,000,000	7,336,000,000
Louisiana	9,552,000,000	9,167,000,000	14,085,000,000
Oklahoma	7,878,000,000	7,049,000,000	13,830,000,000
Texas	48,767,000,000	45,279,000,000	86,001,000,000
West	206,647,000,000	193,177,000,000	292,810,000,000
Mountain	39,809,000,000	36,863,000,000	59,274,000,000
Arizona	13,640,000,000	12,599,000,000	15,148,000,000
Colorado	11,967,000,000	11,036,000,000	21,227,000,000
Idaho	1,765,000,000	1,672,000,000	2,616,000,000
Montana	2,949,000,000	2,741,000,000	4,621,000,000
Nevada	1,937,000,000	1,784,000,000	3,789,000,000
New Mexico	3,202,000,000	3,006,000,000	5,078,000,000
Utah	3,732,000,000	3,505,000,000	5,387,000,000
Wyoming	617,000,000	520,000,000	1,408,000,000
Pacific	166,838,000,000	156,314,000,000	233,536,000,000
Alaska	2,135,000,000	2,009,000,000	2,701,000,000
California	118,114,000,000	110,932,000,000	164,675,000,000
Hawaii	4,081,000,000	3,604,000,000	11,438,000,000
Oregon	20,692,000,000	19,313,000,000	24,654,000,000
Washington	21,815,000,000	20,456,000,000	30,069,000,000
U.S. Territories	1,694,000,000	1,604,000,000	3,193,000,000
United States	$1,050,134,000,000	$981,271,000,000	$1,819,320,000,000

WHO VOLUNTEERS: BY AGE, RACE, AND GENDER
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Gender
Men	23.6%	25.1%	25.0%	25.0%
Women	31.0	32.2	32.4	32.4
Total	27.4	28.8	28.8	28.8
Age
16 to 24	21.9	24.1	24.2	24.4
25 to 34	24.8	26.5	25.8	25.3
35 to 44	34.1	34.7	34.2	34.5
45 to 54	31.3	32.7	32.8	32.7
55 to 64	27.5	29.2	30.1	30.2
65 and older	22.7	23.7	24.6	24.8
Total	27.4	28.8	28.8	28.8
Race and ethnicity
White	29.2	30.6	30.5	30.4
Black or African-American	19.1	20.0	20.8	22.1
Asian	n/a	18.7	19.3	20.7
Hispanic or Latino	15.5	15.7	14.5	15.4
Total	27.4	28.8	28.8	28.8

SOURCES OF REVENUE FOR CHARITIES

Fees for services and goods	70.9%
Private contributions	12.5%
Government grants	9.0%
Investment income	3.9%
Other income	3.7%
NOTE: Based on charities with $25,000 or more in assets.

DISTRIBUTION OF CHARITIES BY TOTAL REVENUE AND ASSETS

Share of nonprofit organizations

Assets

Revenue

$500,000,000 or more	0.1%
	27.2%
	27.2%
$100,000,000 to $499,999,999	0.5%
	24.9%
	29.6%
$50,000,000 to $99,999,999	0.4%
	9.4%
	8.8%
$25,000,000 to $49,999,999	0.8%
	8.0%
	7.6%
$10,000,000 to $24,999,999	2.1%
	9.5%
	9.3%
$5,000,000 to $9,999,999	2.8%
	5.5%
	5.5%
$1,000,000 to $4,999,999	12.1%
	9.0%
	7.6%
$500,000 to $999,999	8.8%
	2.2%
	1.8%
$250,000 to $499,999	11.3%
	1.6%
	1.1%
$100,0000 to $249,999	19.0%
	1.4%
	0.9%
$50,000 to $99,999	17.9%
	0.6%
	0.4%
Less than $50,000	24.2%
	0.7%
	0.2%