Nonprofits' Decade of Growth Outpaces Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 26, 2006—While the nation's gross domestic product grew by an inflation-adjusted 36.6 percent from 1994 to 2004, the nonprofit sector's revenues increased 61.5 percent, according to a new compendium of nonprofit facts from the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. The sector's expenses and assets grew at even faster pace: 62.6 and 90.7 percent, respectively.

"The Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Facts and Figures from the Nonprofit Almanac 2007," by Thomas H. Pollak and Amy Blackwood, offers a statistical snapshot of the 1.4 million public charities and other nonprofit organizations registered with the Internal Revenue Service. These entities recorded $1.36 trillion in revenue in 2004, $1.26 trillion in expenses, and assets of $2.97 trillion. The brief is available at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=311373.

A sample of other facts from "The Nonprofit Sector in Brief":

• Hospitals and other health care organizations, 12.9 percent of all reporting public charities, accounted for 58.7 percent of the sector's revenues in 2004, 41.1 percent of its assets, and 60.0 percent of its expenses, dominating each category.
• Colleges and other higher education nonprofits, less than 1 percent of reporting public charities, received 11.6 percent of the sector's revenue, controlled 22.3 percent of its assets, and recorded 10.9 percent of its expenses.
• Human service organizations, 34.5 percent of reporting public charities, had only 13.6 percent of the sector's revenues, 11.5 percent of its assets, and 14.0 percent of its expenses.
• Fees for services and sales of goods accounted for 71 percent of public charities' revenues.
• In 2005, individuals, corporations, and foundations gave $260 billion to nonprofits, 12.5 percent of their revenue.
• Twenty-nine percent of Americans volunteered with a nonprofit in 2005.

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