Nonprofits in the U.S. employ approximately 13.5 million employees, or nearly 10% of the country’s workforce. The nonprofit sector contributes more than $540 billion in wages to the American economy (2007 data). Nonprofit organizations contribute 5% to the Gross Domestic Product of the United States, and if the US nonprofit sector were a country, it would have the seventeenth largest economy in the world, according to the World Bank.
It is imperative for the strength of the U.S. economy, for our local communities and for nonprofit professionals and volunteers that nonprofits speak loudly and clearly at the legislative and policy-making level.
In South Carolina alone, there are 22,478 nonprofit organizations or associations, including 16,162 public charitable 501(c)(3)s, 942 private foundations, and 5,374 other 501(c) organizations.
South Carolina’s Nonprofit Sector:
- Employs more than 162,000 individuals or 7% of the state workforce
- Receives almost $14 billion in annual revenue
- Holds assets of over $28.8 billion
- Contributes up to $11% of South Carolina’s GSP (gross state product)
