Minnesota’s Nonprofit Community is Strong and Growing

The following are excerpts from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ 2004 Minnesota Nonprofit Economy Report

“While 2002 was a year of unquestionable growth for the nonprofit economy in Minnesota, in 2003 the changes were more subtle. The overall number of nonprofit employers in Minnesota increased by just 1%. The nonprofit sector also experienced a modest increase (2.4%) in the size of its workforce, even as the size of the government and for-profit workforce declined from 2002 to 2003. As a result, in 2003, the nonprofit workforce exceeded 250,000 employees and accounted for 9.8% of the state’s total workforce.”

“Between 2002 and 2003, the nonprofit workforce grew from 245,705 to 251,621, a net increase of nearly 5,920 employees, or 2.4%. Between 1993 and 2002, however, nonprofit employment increased an average of 4.1% per year.”

“In 2003, there were 4,719 nonprofit organizations with at least one employee in Minnesota.”

“Nonprofit employers in Minnesota paid over $8.7 billion in wages to to their employees in 2003. After adjusting for inflation, this represented a 4% increase in the total nonprofit payroll from 2002, which was less than the 7% increase the sector experienced the previous year.”

“In the end, the nonprofit economy is larger than employers and employees, revenues and expenditures; it also encompasses the tangible and personal contributions nonprofits make to their community. The future health of this section of the economy may depend on whether nonprofit organizations can continue to thrive in the changing environment, especially in the face of reduced reliability in the resources available from the government”