It's hard to imagine life without our neighborhood block clubs and teaching hospitals, our colleges and community-based agencies, our houses of worship and museums, our philanthropic foundations and youth groups, or our service clubs and arts organizations. The nonprofit sector works with the business and government sectors, but it is very different. Nonprofits exist for the public good, not for private gain. In some cases, nonprofits provide services better than business or government can. In almost every case, nonprofits work together with business and government to be more efficient and effective.
Nonprofits have an enormous impact on the Chicago-area economy.
Nonprofits provide hundreds of thousands of jobs, contribute to the tax rolls, and mobilize billions of dollars in grants, in donations, and in volunteer time. A local community center offers job training programs to former welfare recipients. Through nonprofits, people can act upon their highest ideals and their deepest beliefs. Nonprofits allow people to act upon the values of compassion, altruism, democracy, and pluralism. These values have led people in the U.S. to join together to solve problems in thousands of ways.