The Business of Doing Good in Greater Washington:
How the Nonprofit Sector
Contributes to the Region's Economy
(February 2005)
Every day in the Greater Washington region, nonprofits raise the quality of life for all citizens by tackling the pressing social and community challenges we face. Nonprofits provide an impressive range of services, from health care, education and job training to youth development, nursing home care and the arts.
While much of the general public appreciates the enormous contribution nonprofit organizations make to the quality of life, what is often overlooked or not well understood is that nonprofit organizations represent a major force in the region’s economy.
Despite its importance in the Greater Washington region, little systematic evidence has been available on the size and scope of the sector, or its economic presence and employment impact.
This report – the first of its kind – was commissioned by the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington to examine the economic contribution that the nonprofit sector provides. This analysis was undertaken to articulate the impact of this vital sector, to fill the information gap, and to quantify the value of the region’s nonprofit sector.
The bottom line: the Greater Washington nonprofit sector is an economic engine. Consider the facts:
* Nonprofits in the region employed over 218,000 paid workers in 2003, just over 11 percent of the region’s total private employment.
* The 218,000 nonprofit employees in the Greater Washington region generated approximately $9.6 billion in wages, or more than 10 percent of the region’s total.
* In 2000, the more than 7,600 active nonprofits in the region spent roughly $29 billion.
The nonprofit sector in Greater Washington is diverse and dynamic. Not only is the sector relatively large and robust, but the presence of national and international groups plays a significant role in making the region’s nonprofit sector unique.
This research was funded by the Meyer Foundation and America Online.
See Also:
The Washington Post story on the report and this Washington Business Journal editorial.
|
