project

Nonprofit Trends and Impacts

Overview

Nonprofit organizations in the United States play a vital role delivering services, strengthening communities, and facilitating civic engagement. In our nationally representative surveys of nonprofit organizations, we focus on operating 501(c)(3) public charities whose activities range from direct service provision to community building and advocacy. We provide public use datasets of most of the survey data we collect so that others across the country can investigate questions of their own.

2021 Public Use Dataset
Project Site

Project Contributors
Portrait of Alan

Alan Abramson

Professor; Director, Center on Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise

George Mason University
Portrait of Elizabeth

Elizabeth Boris

Institute Fellow

Urban Institute
Portrait of Teresa

Teresa Derrick-Mills

Principal Research Associate

Urban Institute / LHP
Portrait of Mirae

Mirae Kim

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Public Administration Program

George Mason University
Portrait of Lewis

Lewis Faulk

Associate Professor

American University
Portrait of Jesse

Jesse Lecy

Associate Professor, Data Scientist

ASU / Urban Institute
Portrait of Hannah

Hannah Martin

Policy Analyst

Urban Institute / CNP
Portrait of Thiyaghessan

Thiyaghessan Poongundranar

Data Scientist

Urban Institute / CNP

Portrait of Calton

Calton Pu

John P. Imlay, Jr. Chair in Software

Georgia Tech
Portrait of Laura

Laura Tomasko

Senior Policy Program Manager

Urban Institute



Highlighted Resources


link Nonprofit Trends and Impacts 2021
pdf Findings on US Donation Trends, 2015–2020: Nonprofit Trends and Impacts 2021
pdf National Findings on Diversity and Representation in the Nonprofit Sector



Select Works Citing Nonprofit Trends Data:

Abramson, Alan J. 2023. “Assessing the State of the U.S. Nonprofit Sector: What Indicators Should We Use?” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 52 (2): 544–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640221091534.
Akingbola, Kunle, Sean Edmund Rogers, and Melissa Intindola. 2023. “Nonprofit Organizations: The Land of Engagement.” In Employee Engagement in Nonprofit Organizations : Theory and Practice, edited by Kunle Akingbola, Sean Edmund Rogers, and Melissa Intindola, 37–75. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08469-0_2.
Clary, Patricia A., and Patricia Vezina Rose. 2022. “The Impact of COVID-19: The Phenomenological Effect of Burnout on Women in the Nonprofit Sector and Implications for the Post-Pandemic Work World.” Merits 2 (4): 331–41. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits2040023.
Despard, Mathieu. 2023. “Promoting Staff Financial Well-Being in Human Service Organizations: The Role of Pay, Benefits, and Working Conditions.” Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance 47 (5): 404–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2023.2253862.
Dula, Lauren. 2022. “These Are the People in Your Neighborhood: Community Logics and Board Gender Composition in United Ways.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership 33 (1): 33–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21506.
Einolf, Christopher J. 2022. “The Career Paths of Executive Directors: Founders, Fillers, Planners and Risers.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership 33 (2): 229–48. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21512.
Fu, Jiawei Sophia, Katherine R. Cooper, DaJung Woo, and Melanie Kwestel. 2023. “Beyond Stakeholder Management: Organizational Listening for Nonprofit Stakeholder Engagement.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, September, 08997640231201068. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640231201068.
Gooyabadi, Ali A., Zahra GorjianKhanzad, and Newton Lee. 2024. “Nonprofits Vs. For-Profits Digitalization.” In Nonprofit Digital Transformation Demystified: A Practical Guide, edited by Ali A. Gooyabadi, Zahra GorjianKhanzad, and Newton Lee, 69–79. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47182-7_4.
Intindola, Melissa, and Cari Burke-Kolehmainen. 2023. “Creeping COVID Catastrophe: The Impact of COVID-19 on Nonprofits by Sector.” Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management 35 (5): 621–43. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-04-2022-0066.
Jo, Suyeon, Laurie Paarlberg, and Rebecca Nesbit. 2023. “Volunteering Behaviors of People of Color in the US Communities: How Community Racial Composition Affects the Type of Organization People of Color Volunteer For.” VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 34 (4): 760–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-022-00508-0.
Kim, Mirae, and Bo Li. 2023. “Financial Challenges of Nonprofits Serving People of Color: Original Survey Results.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 52 (5): 1145–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640221122812.
Kuenzi, Kerry, Marlene Walk, and Amanda Stewart. 2022. “How Are Nonprofit Workers Doing? Investigating the Personal and Professional Impact of COVID-19.” Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research 13 (2): 17 pp–. https://doi.org/10.29173/cjnser565.
Lam, Marcus M., Jessica K. A. Word, and Nathan J. Grasse. 2023. “Human Service Organizations’ Participation in the Paycheck Protection Program: A Cross-Sector Comparison.” Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance 0 (0): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2023.2282592.
Lee, Young-joo. 2023. “The Color of Nonprofit Leadership: Nonprofits with a CEO of Color.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership 33 (4): 865–78. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21545.
———. 2024. “Board Gender Diversity and Nonprofit CEO Compensation: Implications for Gender Pay Gap.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 53 (1): 257–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640231158596.
Lens, Vicki, Lily Bushman-Copp, and Christopher Wimer. 2024. “Help-Seeking from Nonprofits and Social Networks During the Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.” Journal of Policy Practice and Research, February. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42972-024-00098-9.
Li, Bo. 2023. “Racial Diversity at the Leadership Level: The Case of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations.” AYSPS Dissertations, August. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.57709/35893728.
Mendez-Caltzontzint, Desiree. 2022. “An Examination of the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness in Nonprofit Organizations.” {PhD} {Thesis}, Our Lady of the Lake University.
Mook, Laurie. 2023. “Measuring Volunteer Inputs: Telling the Whole Story.” In Research Handbook on Nonprofit Accounting, 133–53. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781800888289/book-part-9781800888289-15.xml.
Mumford, Steven W. 2022. “Doing More with Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience.” Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs.
Mumford, Steven W., Nicole S. Hutton, and Stephanie M. Riegel. 2024. “Contributions of the Paycheck Protection Program to Nonprofit Short-Term Sustainability.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 53 (1): 186–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640231164538.
Parker, Kimberly A., Sarah A. Geegan, Samantha N. Pfeiffer, Ansley M. George, Danielle E. Jaffe, Adriane Grumbein, Sylvia Scheuer, and Allison D. Brown. 2024. “Engaging a New Generation of Donors: A Relationship Management Theory Approach to Communication Between Nonprofits and Millennials.” Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing 29 (1): e1816. https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1816.
Phillips, Kenneth. 2023. Trust, Impact, and Fundraising for Nonprofits: How Meaningful Ethics and Strategic Evaluation Can Multiply Your Revenue and Expand Your Program. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003335207.
Thomas, Benjamin J. 2024. “Understanding Nonprofit Leader Engagement and Turnover: A Story of Job Demands and Resources.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership 34 (3): 707–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21588.
Walters, Jayme. 2022. “The Role of Rural Nonprofits: Innovation, Opportunities, and Threats.” In Rural Areas in Transition. Routledge.
Webb, Keilee. 2023. “The Relationship of Insufficient Resources to Leadership Burnout in Rural Nonprofit Organizations.” Honors College Theses, December. https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/honorstheses/198.
Yan, Jiaju, Nick Mmbaga, and David Gras. 2023. “In Pursuit of Diversification Opportunities, Efficiency, and Revenue Diversification: A Generalization and Extension for Social Entrepreneurship.” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 17 (1): 132–59. https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1446.
Young, Dennis, and Elizabeth Searing. 2022. “Introduction to Resilience and the Management of Nonprofit Organizations.” In Resilience and the Management of Nonprofit Organizations, 1–14. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/monochap/book/9781800889736/book-part-9781800889736-10.xml.
ZigmanLador, Orit. 2023. “The Impact of Covid-19 on Community Based-Organizations: A Case Study of Jewish Organizations.” Theses and Dissertations, January. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/1320.



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