5 Findings from UN Nonprofit Handbook

Nonprofit fundraising research and reporting can help paint a clearer picture on the state and trends of the nonprofit sector and I often spotlight these findings here on our blog. In the past I have covered reports in posts such as the 5 Communication Trends in Nonprofit Fundraising According to Report, the 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Trends According to Industry Report, and the 2012 Technological Giving Trends According to Nonprofit Fundraising Industry Reports. Today I am adding to this list with a new report released this month titled The State of Global Civil Society and Volunteering, Latest Findings from the Implementation of the UN Nonprofit Handbook. Composed by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies the report takes a look at the results of 13 countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Thailand. The information contained in this report is very interesting and demonstrates the growth and impact that nonprofits are having around the globe.

1. Workforce – Incredibly in thirteen of the countries where data was available, nonprofit institutions represent 7.4% of the paid and volunteer workforce (5.2% paid vs. 2.2% volunteer) which is higher than other industries like Transportation (5.8%) and Hotels & Restaurants (4.6%). Overall, it also represents 4.5% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which is comparable to the Construction industry (5.5%). When broken down by country six of the thirteen countries had over 10% of the workforce working for nonprofits, with the United States in particular having 10.2%. GDP rates are higher than the average in Canada with 8.1% the highest amongst all analyzed countries and the U.S. with a 6.6%.
2. Activities – 73% of nonprofit institution activities derive from services such as housing, social services, education and health care. On the other side of the spectrum expressive activities like sports and recreation, art and culture, interest representation and advocacy account for 22%. In Canada in particular service activities reach as high as 85%, while 10% are in the form of expressive activities. Interestingly Japan has the highest percentage among all analyzed countries of service activities with 95%.
3. Expenditures – The majority of nonprofit institution expenses are spent on labour (54%). The U.S. and Australia top the list with 71% of their expenses dedicated to compensate staff, while in Canada it only factors as 58%. Second to labour, intermediate consumption (purchase of goods and services) factors as 45% of a nonprofit’s cost. Interest, rent and taxes only factor minimally in overall expenditures of nonprofit institutions.
4. Revenues – One of the most interesting aspects of this report are the results involving where revenues come from. When broken down into three broad sections – philanthropy, government and fees (charges for services) – philanthropy is not the major source of revenue you might think. In fact it’s the lowest with 23%. On the other hand fees are the largest source of revenue accounting for 43% and government with 32%. Canada has much different results where philanthropy in particular accounts for a much smaller portion of nonprofit revenue at 7%, government factors in at 52% and fees at 42%.
5. Growth – The nonprofit sector has experienced tremendous growth over the past twenty years. From the 90s to mid 2000 nonprofit institution contributions to the GDP grew 5.8% per year, which surpasses the 5.2% growth experienced by all economies as a whole. Australia in particular experienced nonprofit growth of 11% the highest amongst all measured countries while Canada and the U.S. had 6.4% and 5.5% growth respectively.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.