The nonprofit segment is quite large, employing more than 10% of all U.S. private sector workers. This is more workers than in the manufacturing, construction, or finance sectors.
So it's a problem that nonprofits have been hit hard by the pandemic.
The chart below (click to enlarge) comes from the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
It shows employment in the nonprofit sector has fallen by over 900,000 jobs since the beginning of the pandemic.
Other sources have the job losses greater than 1 million jobs.
And when a nonprofit closes or reduces jobs, the community it serves is also hurt. Key quote from the Axios article Nonprofits in crisis amid the pandemic:
"When you lose a nonprofit job, you’re not only losing that job, but the community is losing a service," says Tim Delaney, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. "It’s a double whammy."
According to Johns Hopkins, the nonprofit sector's recovery will likely be slow. They're projecting it will take 18 months after the pandemic for the sector to recover fully.
Nonprofits are mostly small businesses, which is why we cover them. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, 88% of all U.S. nonprofits have less than $500,000 in annual expenses and only 8% spend more than $1 million.
Prior to the pandemic, the nonprofit sector had been growing more rapidly than for-profit SMBs. And hopefully, they'll get back on track.