About This Profile

Across the United States, the charitable sector generates incredible impact on both communities and economies. This profile is a snapshot of major statistics about Ohio’s charitable community. It’s designed to give you a broad sense of the scale and diversity of nonprofits, foundations, and charities across the state. A downloadable PDF version is available above.

Number of Ohio Nonprofit Organizations

• All nonprofit organizations: 59,897
• 501(c)(3) Public Charities (includes some religious organizations): 37,267
• 501(c)(3) Private and Public Foundations: 3,851
• Other 501(c) Nonprofit Organizations*: 18,779

Economic Impact of the Ohio Nonprofit Sector

• Employs 564,039 people– 12.2% of the state’s workforce
• Generates over $103.2 billion in annual revenues
• Holds assets of $205.2 billion
• Ohio foundations annually give over $1.6 billion
• Ohioans give $5.2 billion to charity each year, representing 2.8 percent of household income

Public Charities and Foundations Benefit Ohio Communities

Deliver vital community services

• Since 1987, The Cleveland Foundation has awarded over $47.6 million in scholarships to over 10,000 recipients making it one of the largest scholarship programs of its kind in the nation. Recipients range from graduating high school seniors who need assistance to attend college to adults who want to pursue professional and personal development.

Give voice to the people they serve

• United Way of Greater Cincinnati leads and mobilizes the caring power of individuals and organizations to help people measurably improve their lives. UWGC invests in more than 230 programs and community change effortsat more than 140 agency partners and in about a dozen initiatives to reduce poverty.

Contribute to vibrant communities

• Since 2008, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) has invested more than $140 million in more than 300 organizations with more than 1,400 grants. From field trips to museums to student programming and distance learning at senior centers, CAC has reached over 366,000 county residents and nearly 1.5 million children.

Advance solutions for challenges facing society

• The Ohio chapter of March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality through community services, research, education and advocacy. The group also partners with local medical groups and organizations and provides grants to researchers in an effort to help reduce the current Ohio rate of premature births from 10.3% to 8.1% by 2020.

Sources

Note: The “nonprofit sector” encompasses organizations that are defined as tax-exempt under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. This includes both public charities and private foundations [501(c)(3)] and other nonprofits such as civic league organizations [501(c)(4)]. Exceptions are noted when relevant.

Best estimates based on available data.

Number of nonprofit employees

Number of nonprofit employees: The 2019 nonprofit employment report, Lester M. Salamon and Chelsea L. Newhouse, S. Wojciech Sokolowski, Nonprofit Employment Bulletin #47, Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, 2019 {Data is 2016, page 3}

http://ccss.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2019/01/2019-NP-Employment-Report_FINAL_1.8.2019.pdf

Breakdown by Nonprofit Service Area

Ohio Nonprofit Sector Report, Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations

http://www.oano.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/OANO-Sector-Report-FINAL.pdf {Data are 2013}

Number of Nonprofits

Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, State Summary reports http://www.nccs.urban.org/statistics/profiles.cfm {Data are 2013}

Asset and Revenues

Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, “Registered Nonprofit Organizations by State (BMF 12/2015)” http://nccsweb.urban.org/tablewiz/bmf.php {Data are 2015}

Foundation Giving

The Foundation Center, FC Stats: “Foundation Stats: Total Grantmaking Foundations” {Data are 2015}

http://data.foundationcenter.org/#/foundations/all/state:OH/total/list/2015

Individual Giving

How America Gives, 2014. The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
http://philanthropy.com/article/Interactive-How-America-Gives/133709 {Data are 2012}.

Nonprofit Examples:

The Cleveland Foundation: http://www.clevelandfoundation.org/scholarships/success-stories/

United Way of Greater Cincinnati: https://www.uwgc.org/about-us/questions

March of Dimes Ohio: http://www.marchofdimes.org/materials/premature-birth-report-card-ohio.pdf

Cuyahoga Arts & Culture: http://report.cacgrants.org/

As of July 2019