Archive for May, 2008

Nonprofit Sector Grows Up




U.S. nonprofits are a critical part of the U.S. economy, employing almost 13 million people, paying nearly $490 billion in wages, and making up 5 percent of gross national product, a new report says.

Over the past 10 years, the sector has expanded in almost every dimension, says the 2008 Nonprofit Almanac, published by the Urban Institute Press.

The report, with over 200 pages of statistics and analysis, details the size and scope of the nonprofit sector and compares trends among nonprofits to other sectors of the U.S. economy in the areas of wages and employment, giving and volunteering and finances.

The number of nonprofits in the U.S. grew to 1.4 million in 2006, up from 1.1 million in 1998, and the sector as a whole contributed $666.1 billion to the U.S. economy in 2006.

Revenues collected by the sector totaled $1 trillion in 2006, up 5.7 percent over 2005.

Nonprofits employed 12.9 million people in 2005, or about one in 10 U.S. jobs, and paid wages totaling $489.4 billion, accounting for 8.1 percent of all wages in the U.S., the report says.

Over the last decade, total giving by individuals, corporations and foundations more than doubled, reaching $295 billion in 2006, with individuals giving $245.8 billion in donations and bequests.

Foundation giving totaled $36.5 billion in 2005, up almost 200 percent over 10 years, while giving by corporations and corporate foundations grew 69 percent to $12.7 billion over the past decade.

And 61.2 million Americans say they volunteered in 2005, giving a total of 12.9 billion hours in 2006, or the equivalent of 7.6 million full-time employees, the report says.

That infusion of volunteer time, worth an estimated $215.6 billion in wages in 2006, effectively increased the nonprofit workforce by more than half.

“As the sector grows in size and financial clout, policymakers and the public need information to understand its diversity, assess its impact and ensure its accountability,” Elizabeth Boris, director of Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, says in a statement.

Source: Philanthropy Journal

New Study Confirms Need of Background Screenings for Nonprofits





ChoicePoint, a leading provider of background screening services to the nonprofit sector, recently updated an audit of screenings completed between 2002 and 2007.

This audit found that from the more than 3.7 million background screenings completed during this five year period, over 189,000 individuals with at least one criminal conviction attempted to gain employment or volunteer with a nonprofit organization.

To learn more, download The Importance of Background Screening for Nonprofits

Leadership for Future Seen Lacking




The much-anticipated leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector has arrived and current and future leaders are not ready, a new report says.

The report is a summary of a conference of more than 100 current and future nonprofit leaders from across who gathered for “NP2020: Issues and Answers From the Next Generation,” hosted by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Leadership at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

The leadership deficit is a current issue, not a future one, participants said.

That is largely because leadership training and professional development are lacking for staffers who hope to become executive directors, they said.

Mentoring is another critical element in preparing future leaders, said conference participants, who encourage aspiring leaders to seek out mentoring relationships with sector veterans.

Some at the conference questioned whether it is possible to have a long-term career in nonprofits, citing low pay, burnout, the burden of student loans and generation gaps within organizations.

The younger people at the conference saw diversity as lacking both among staffs and boards, a development they said affects how services are delivered and how well organizations understand the communities they serve.

To address these issues, participants said funders should support training and development for staffs and boards, and that sector leaders should organize more events that bring together current and future leaders.

Source: Philanthropy Journal

San Francisco Persuades People to Give to Charity, Not to Panhandlers




Officials in San Francisco hope a new effort to use 10 old parking meters to collect spare change will help the city’s homeless population and cut down on panhandling, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

Instead of giving directly to panhandlers, the money will be given to charities that help the homeless, the newspaper reports. Other cities, such as Denver and Baltimore, have used this method — which does not necessarily raise a lot of money for charity — as a way to cut down on panhandling.

At least one charity official, Sister Bernie Galvin, executive director of Religious Witness With Homeless People, panned the plan, calling it “utterly ridiculous.” She said it was based on a stereotype that all panhandlers use every nickel and dime to buy drugs and alcohol.

“Forget the children, forget the mothers who are struggling to raise their family homeless or in inadequate housing,” she said. “Will the city never give up on trying to find ways to make the lives of homeless people harder?”

Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy