Recession Putting Triple Strain on Nonprofits

Nonprofits are facing growing demand for services, rising operating costs and lagging revenues in the face of the nationwide recession, according to a variety of studies.

An overview report published by the National Council of Nonprofits cited more than a dozen studies in documenting the extent of the recession’s effects on nonprofits.

“Anecdotes and individual studies often get dismissed as outliers,” said National Council of Nonprofits president and CEO Tim Delaney, who said the new overview (PDF) documents “the facts in a way that can no longer get overlooked or ignored.”

“The economic threats to nonprofits and the communities we serve are real and dire,” said Delaney. “It is both unrealistic and unsafe to those depending on services to simply assume that nonprofits will somehow be able to continue to deliver more services that cost more with declining revenues. The math just doesn’t work.”

The group recommended that government officials and nonprofit leaders step up collaboration to meet community needs in the absence of more public funding.