Are You Ready for the Charity Challenge?

More than 1.4 million nonprofit organizations were registered with the Internal Revenue Service in 2009, 19 percent above 1999. How much do you know about the nonprofit sector?

Answers to the following questions and many more key facts can be found in The Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Public Charities, Giving, and Volunteering, 2011. The publication, from the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, highlights trends from the forthcoming 2011 edition of The Nonprofit Almanac. The brief was prepared by Katie Roeger, Amy Blackwood, and Sarah Pettijohn.

1. The Internal Revenue Code has about how many categories of tax-exempt organizations? 
a. 10 
b. 30 
c. 75 
d. 100

2. Some 628,700 nonprofits filed financial returns with the IRS in 2009. They reported how much total revenue?
a. $858 billion
b. $1.35 trillion
c. $1.87 trillion
d. $2.06 trillion

3. From 1999 to 2009, the revenue of reporting nonprofits grew by 34 percent, after adjusting for inflation. How much did expenses climb?
a. 21 percent
b. 31 percent
c. 41 percent
d. 51 percent

4. For reporting public charities (the 70 percent or so of registered nonprofits receiving tax-deductible donations), which source supplied 76 percent of their 2009 revenue?
a. Fees from goods and services
b. Government grants
c. Corporate and foundation support
d. Donations from individuals

5. Congregations and other religious organizations received a third of all private charitable giving in 2010. In second place, at 14 percent, were 
a. Health organizations
b. Human service groups
c. Educational organizations
d. Environmental and animal groups

6. On an average day in 2010, what percent of adults volunteered? 
a. 3
b. 7
c. 13
d. 17

Answers: 1. b; 2. c; 3. d; 4. a; 5. c; 6. b

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation. It provides information, analyses, and perspectives to public and private decision makers to help them address these problems and strives to deepen citizens’ understanding of the issues and trade-offs that policymakers face.