After widespread nonprofit advocacy and direction from allies in Congress, $7 trillion budget fails to include funding for nonprofit workforce data.
(WASHINGTON, Tuesday, March 12, 2024) – Independent Sector voices deep disappointment in the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal, released yesterday, which does not contain the $4 million needed for quarterly data on nonprofit employment and wages.
Despite years of advocacy by Independent Sector and other nonprofit partners, the proposal omits nonprofits from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which is how the federal government reports workforce data through the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“Budgets are statements of priorities, and it is deeply disappointing that this budget does not prioritize data about the nonprofit workforce,” Independent Sector President and CEO Dr. Akilah Watkins said. “It is fundamentally unfair that nonprofit workers remain invisible in our government’s wage and employment data. Let’s be very clear: this budget process could not find $4 million dollars to support the workers who got the nation through a pandemic and build up our communities every day. Without this data, policymakers continue to have a blind spot when it comes to the needs of the economy’s third largest employer. This data inequity needs to end. Now the Congress needs to make right what the administration got wrong.”
While for-profit sectors and subsectors can follow workforce trends and benchmark their organizations’ standing every quarter, BLS only releases information on the nonprofit sector every five years. The most recent data are from 2017, when the U.S. economy and the American workforce were dramatically different.
“Nonprofits are trusted community partners, major employers, and organizations critical to designing and delivering programs at all levels of government. Much is asked of us — including by the federal government — and we are always ready to respond. We are seeking less than one-millionth of the federal budget to better understand and benchmark our workforce. This should not be so hard,” Dr. Watkins said. “Now we are asking the White House and the Congress to respond. We look forward to working with the Biden Administration and champions in Congress to secure this much-needed funding and to fix this problem permanently.”
In its detailed Congressional Budget Justification — also released yesterday — BLS officially confirmed that it could provide regular nonprofit workforce data for $4 million per year, the first time it has stated that total in official budget documentation. Independent Sector and other partners have long advocated for BLS to provide data on the nonprofit workforce.
- In September 2023, 24 national nonprofit organizations wrote to the Biden Administration in support of $4 million for this priority in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal.
- In July 2023, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies advanced its annual funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2024, which contained language directing the Administration to analyze the inclusion of nonprofit workforce data in the QCEW.
- In May 2023, Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced the Nonprofit SEAT Act. Section 9 of the legislation directs BLS to include nonprofit workforce data in the QCEW.
- In December 2022, Congress passed Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations legislation, which incorporated by reference language directing BLS to examine the value of including nonprofit organizations in the QCEW.
- In September 2022, Independent Sector released public polling, showing that 71% of voters believe that nonprofits and policymakers need to receive data about the nonprofit workforce, compared to just 9% who disagree.
- In August 2021, more than 250 nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, and scholars nationwide urged the Department of Labor and BLS to include nonprofit organizations in the QCEW.
Learn more about nonprofit economic data and the Seat at the Table initiative on Independent Sector’s website.
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Independent Sector is the only national membership organization that brings together a diverse community of changemakers at nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs to ensure all people in the United States thrive. Learn more at independentsector.org.
Media Contact: Nina Ford, media@independentsector.org, 202-467-6113
