June 2021

Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits
and Foundations
1,812,473

nonprofits are registered with the IRS
Some nonprofits are not required to register. How many is unknown.
Source: 2020 IRS Business Master File (BMF). Captures organizations based in the U.S. (including territories)
appearing on any BMF in calendar year 2020. This approach represents a slight shift in methodology from theApril 2020 Key Facts in which we looked at organizations on the December 2019 BMF only.

The most common type ofnonprofit is the public charity
Nonprofits by type20%

What are public charities?
— Primarily administer programs;
occasionally make grants

72%— What most people think of when they hear
the word nonprofit

501(c)(3)
public charities— Small and local (e.g., an animal shelter)or large and national or international(e.g., Save the Children)

7%

What are private foundations?

501(c)(3)
private foundations

All other
501(c)s

501(c) refers to the section of the Internal Revenue Code under which thesenonprofits are tax exempt. Public charities and private foundations are grouped
under the same section–501(c)(3).
Source: 2020 IRS BMFs.

Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations | candid.org— Primarily grantmaking institutions;occasionally administer programs— Examples include the Ford Foundation
and The California Endowment— Typically are founded by and receive
support from a small number ofindividuals or corporations
There are more than 30 other types of 501(c)nonprofits in the U.S., including social welfare
groups, business associations, veterans’organizations, labor unions, and federal
credit unions.

1

Public charities
Public charities are everywhere

They raise moneyfrom a varietyof sources

You can find them in every state, and in U.S. territories.
Public charities per capita by U.S. state
Number of public charities for every 10,000 residents<3535-39
40-4445+
WA
ME

ND

MT
OR

MN

ID

VT

SD

WI

WY
NVIANE

IL

COKS
AZ

OKNM

OH

IN

WV

MOKY

NJ
MD DE
DC

VA

AR

Most are small
Public charities by annual revenue

SC
AL

Contributions include government grants,individual donations, and foundation grants.

NCTNMS
TX

NH
MA
CT RI

PA

UTCA

NY

MI

53% of all charities rely on
contributions for the majorityof their revenue. For 32% ofcharities, the majority of revenuecomes from program services.

GALA

76%

AKFL

$0-99KHI

Sources: 2020 IRS BMFs; U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division–December 2019.

They reflect every aspect of life
Top 5 public charity subject areas

20%

Religion

18%

Human services

14%

Education
Arts and culture
Health9%13%$100K-499K

3%

3%$500K-999K

>$5M

5%

$1M-4.9M

Source: Based on most recent IRS filing available,
2016 or later, for organizations appearing on any 2020
BMF. Excludes organizations that did not report revenue
figures, with the exception of the chart above whereorganizations filing form 990-N are included in thelowest tier.

8%

Source: 2020 IRS BMFs. Based on the Philanthropy Classification System. Organizations may receive
more than one subject code.

Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations | candid.org

2Foundations
Private foundations

Foundation giving over time

— Independent: Includes most of the nation’slargest foundations. Generally establishedby individual donors or donor families.
— Operating: Primarily run their own programs,
but some also make grants. Generally
established by individuals or families.

Private foundations

Community foundations

$75B
$61B

$57B

$72B

$66B— Corporate: Established by large or small
businesses, although legally separate.

$7B

Community foundations— Raise funds from the public and engage in
grantmaking primarily within a defined
geographic area.

Foundations by the numbers
Independent

OperatingCorporate

Community

Total foundations = 127,595

115,009

2014

$7B
2015

$8B
2016

$10B

$10B
2017

2018

Source: Based on IRS filings associated with the given fiscal year. Most recent
complete year is 2018.

Foundation giving is a modest
but growing slice of overall
giving in the U.S.
Private giving by source

8,509

17%

2,893
1,184*

foundationsTotal assets = $1.2 trillion

$960B
$84B
$37B

69%

individuals

$99B

10%

bequests

Total giving = $90 billion

$64B

5%

corporations

$8B
$7B
$10B

Source: Figures from Giving USA Foundation, Giving USA, 2020. Per Giving USA
criteria, corporate foundations are included under ‘corporations’ and community
foundations are excluded.

Source (left): Based on most recent IRS filing, 2016 or later, available for organizations
appearing on any 2020 IRS BMF.
*In the previous Key Facts, the count of community foundations is listed as 1,067. Due tochanges in methodology allowing us to identify more community foundations on the BMF,
the figure increased by 11%.

Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations | candid.org

3Grantmaking priorities
What do foundations fund most?

23%

Top 5 subject areas by percentage of total fundingof grant dollars
from U.S. funders
were awarded forinternational
purposes

26%

Education

23%

HealthCommunity andeconomic development

13%

Human services

13%

Arts and culture

9%

The median numberof grants awarded
by foundations was

Top 5 support strategies by percentage of total funding

7340%

Program development

20%

General support

1%

14%Research and evaluation

10%

Policy, advocacy, andsystems reformof recipientorganizations
captured nearly
half of grant dollars

8%

Capacity building andtechnical assistanceTop 5 populations served by percentage of total funding
Economicallydisadvantaged people

29%
8%Ethnic and racial groups
Women and girls
Religious groups

310of the topgrants recipientsby dollars wereproviders ofdonor-advised funds*

21%

Children and youth

7%3%

Source (for all figures on this page): 2018. Subject, population, and support strategy categories are based on thePhilanthropy Classification System. The full value of each grant is counted toward each applicable category.

In order to analyze grantmaking priorities by U.S.
funders, Candid examines all grants of $10,000 or
more awarded by 1,000 of the largest U.S.-based
private and community foundations. These funders
account for about half of all grantmaking dollars
awarded by private and community foundations.
Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations | candid.org*A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a charitable giving
account that is established at a public charity. DAFs allow
donors to receive an immediate tax deduction, but allow
grants to be awarded over time to eligible nonprofits.

About Candid data: candid.org/about-our-data
For more information: researchteam@candid.org© 2021, Candid. This work is made available under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
License. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.
doi.org/10/gjz2m94