Nonprofits count in the economy

The decision of Northern Nevada Business Weekly to not cover the news generated by local health, human service, cultural and arts organizations seems mired in outdated thinking that the only news these entities generate is a fundraising appeal. While raising funds from the community is a never-ending action item to support the work of the organizations, there is a lot going on that is newsworthy.

Nonprofits account for an average of 7 percent of the number of full and part time jobs nationally. Nevada ranks almost at the bottom, at 49 out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in the distribution of jobs in nonprofits with 3.7 percent according to a national report and 50 out of 50 in nonprofit workforce as a share of total workforce, by state, 2004.

As of the second quarter of 2004, the latest year for which data on nonprofit organizations are available, American charities employed 9.4 million paid workers and engaged another 4.7 million full-time equivalent (FTE) volunteer workers for a total workforce of more than 14 million workers.

In 2004, the nonprofit workforce, including paid and volunteer workers, grew by 5.3 percent in the US. By contrast, overall employment in the economy declined by 0.2 percent during this same period. (The statistics come from "Employment in America's Charities: A Profile," authored in 2006 by Dr. Wojciech Sokolowski, a research associate at the Center for Civil Society Studies at John Hopkins University.)

Experts attribute the growth to a demand for needed services and a growing desire among the workforce for civic-minded employment. What are local employees of nonprofits saying what their motivation is for their career choices?

Each of these employees pays federal, Medicare and social security taxes. They spend money on housing, food and local services. What is the overall economic impact of the buying and spending habits of the employees and the organizations themselves on the local economy?

There are more and more public/nonprofit management majors at leading national universities across the U.S. Yale University's School of

Business and the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management are just to name a couple to that demonstrates evidence of the sector's rising profile. How have our local nonprofit executives prepared or

trained for their current positions?

Several nonprofits in the Reno and Sparks community have built or renovated buildings in the past decade. These projects provided jobs for local construction workers. Some of the buildings were built or renovated in areas that were blighted previously. When building improvements occur in a run down neighborhood what is the impact on the surrounding environment?

Many executives and area business people are involved as board members and volunteers in area nonprofits. The governance, planning and yes fundraising are shared by many thousands of people. Research shows that when community residents are engaged in their community in these ways the social capital that is generated has a ripple effect of good consequences. What has this ripple effect looked like in Northern Nevada?

Creating a workforce of the future is a recognized serious agenda item for our community. The shortfall in a well educated workforce is already creating a problem for the expansion of our local economy. Some local nonprofit agencies are addressing this issue through the mentoring of local youth. Some agencies have created leadership development programs for young professionals. How is the impact of these programs being measured? What is needed to double, triple and take these programs to scale?

Nonprofits often function on very lean budgets. Procedures include such things as using the backside of paper to print on, taking furniture that would otherwise go to the landfill to furnish their offices, using trading and bartering and being innovative. What innovative money saving things are happening right here in our local nonprofit community that would inspire others?

More and more not-for-profit organizations have developed or are considering creating for-profit subsidiaries (that pay taxes just like other businesses) to help support their nonprofit mission. What can our community do to help incubate these bootstrap moves?

Nonprofits are essentially owned by the community represented by their boards of directors, managed by their CEO or executive director. These board members are not paid for their time, but do this voluntarily.

What is the difference between these voluntary boards and corporate boards besides compensation?

Looking within the nonprofit social enterprise community in Northern Nevada, one would recognize its early development compared to nonprofits in other parts of the country. Communication regarding the life cycle of an organization, whether for- or not-for-profit, would assist many in our community to recognize that well-run not-for-profit organizations are businesses too.

Pat Fling is chief executive officer and president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada.