Data on How the Pandemic and Economic Crises Are Affecting Nonprofits

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Many state-level surveys and polls have been conducted, and in some cases, reports written, providing data from the field on how COVID-19 and the related economic crisis are affecting nonprofits. In addition, there are some nationwide and regional surveys and reports that provide insights. We have gathered the state and national data here and will update this page when we discover new data of interest. (Page updated November, 2022.)

State-specific surveys and data on how the pandemic and economic crises are affecting nonprofits

More than 40 state associations of nonprofits and other groups have conducted surveys and pulse polls on how nonprofits and communities in their states are being affected. Check this page for the latest list and links to the survey results. 
 

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Hawai`i

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

National and regional surveys and data on how the pandemic and economic crisis are affecting nonprofits

Several reports have been issued (most based on surveys) that may be of interest on a geographical or subsector basis. We have posted the best we have discovered below.

National

Building Movement Project: On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism, October 2020. Based on a survey of more than 400 nonprofit leaders of color, this report shines a spotlight on how 2020’s social upheavals affected people of color-led nonprofit organizations and their communities, programs, leadership, and financial sustainability. The report also provides recommendations to strengthen these nonprofits, leaders of color, and their communities well beyond the crisis response and recovery period.

Center for Effective Philanthropy: Persevering through Crisis: The State of Nonprofits, June 2021. A survey of 163 nonprofit leaders from CEP’s Grantee Voice panel about the impacts of COVID-19 on their organization and the actions of their funders. CEP cautions that their panel somewhat overrepresents larger, more financially secure nonprofits than average.

Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Urban Institute: Nonprofit Trends and Impacts 2021: National Findings on Diversity and Representation, Donation Trends from 2015-2020, and Effects of 2020, October 2021. This nationally representative survey of nonprofit organizations, fielded January-April, 2021, focused on operating 501(c)(3) nonprofits. The report covers giving trends and how they were affected by the events of 2020, geographic and demographic characteristics of the people and communities that nonprofits serve across the U.S., and the demographic diversity and representation of nonprofits’ staff and leadership. For various reasons, hospitals, schools, higher-education institutions, churches and other houses of worship, and certain other organizations were excluded from the sample.

Federal Reserve, Perspectives from Main Street: The impact of COVID-19 on communities and the entities that serve them, October 2021. More than 3,600 organizations responded to this survey, fielded in August, 2021, of which more than 82 percent were nonprofits. The report, which includes nonprofits serving every state, breaks down the responses by type of entity, demographics of the populations served, issues addressed, financial and other impacts of COVID on the community and the organization, and more. The National Council of Nonprofits published a blog post analyzing the survey data on nonprofits providing direct services to low-and moderate-income communities in November, 2021, entitled, The Data Show What We Know: The Nonprofit Helpers Need Help. Further analyses of the data will follow.

In 2020, the Federal Reserve System fielded a series of surveys entitled, “Perspectives from Main Street: The Impact of COVID-19 on Low- to Moderate-Income Communities and the Entities Serving Them.” The Fed surveyed nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, government agencies, and other community organizations, with nearly 4,000 respondents in April (64 percent of which were nonprofits), 1,869 in June (45 percent nonprofits), 1,465 in August (57 percent nonprofits), and 1,127 in October (53 percent nonprofits). Because results were not broken out by organization type, these have limited nonprofit-specific data; yet because they were done every two months, they provide useful snapshots over time of both the needs in communities and the resilience of organizations responding to those needs. The surveys and other insights from the Fed can be found on the FedCommunities page.

National Council of Nonprofits, The Data Show What We Do: The Nonprofit Helpers Need Help, November 2021. This blog post rounds up and interprets multiple recent reports, including unpublished nonprofits-only data from the 2021 Federal Reserve survey and newly released Small Business Administration data on nonprofits receiving Paycheck Protection Program forgiveable loans.

Geographical

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (October 2020), COVID-19’s Impact on the Human and Social Services Sector (focusing on FEMA Region 3: DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV)

Subsector

Arts & Culture

Human Services Organizations

  • Nonprofit Organization Research Panel (NORP): “COVID-19 and Nonprofits,” human services (70 percent) and arts & culture organizations (30 percent) (Spring 2020)
  • Nonprofit Organization Research Panel (NORP): “COVID-19 and Nonprofits Part II,” human services (65 percent) and arts & culture organizations (35 percent) (Winter 2020)

Immigrant-Serving Organizations

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