NONPROFIT ECONOMIC DATA PROJECT
Project: NONPROFIT ECONOMIC DATA PROJECT
Sponsors: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and selected local foundations
IPS Staff: Lester Salamon, Stephanie Geller, Wojciech Sokolowski, Kasey Spence, Mimi Bilzor, and Hillary Belzer
Purpose and Approach
The Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Economic Data Project (NED) is generating critical new information on the dynamics of the nonprofit sector. As such, it is reshaping how this important sector is viewed in local, state, and regional economies and providing cutting-edge insights into the key trends affecting the various nonprofit industries such as nursing homes, hospitals, home health centers, education, social services, and the arts. To do so, the project is synthesizing and analyzing diverse datasets on nonprofit organizations, including data on nonprofit finances, employment and wages, and volunteering. A col-laboration between the Center for Civil Society Studies, state employment security agencies, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and state nonprofit associations, the NED Project is yielding a vital re-source for understanding the nonprofit sector.
Results
Working collaboratively with nonprofit associations and state and regional philanthropic networks, the Nonprofit Economic Data Project has issued over 30 state and regional reports that have usefully do-cumented the immense economic role of the nonprofit sector in communities throughout the country. These reports have been used extensively to increase the visibility of the nonprofit sector and to ac-quaint policymakers, the press, and the public at large with the economic role of these organizations. The project has also produced national reports that have begun to change conventional beliefs about nonprofit employment and nonprofit versus for-profit wages in industries.
Publications
Salamon, L.M., Geller, S.L., and W. Sokolowski (2008). Virginia’s Nonprofit Sector: An Economic Force. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Civil Society Studies. Available at ccss.jhu.edu.
Salamon, L.M. and W. Sokolowski (2006). Employment in America’s Charities: A Profile. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Civil Society Studies. Available at ccss.jhu.edu..
State Nonprofit Economic and Employment Bulletins on California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Civil Society Studies. Available at ccss.jhu.edu.
