What do Nonprofits Stand For? Renewing the Nonprofit Value Commitment

Nonprofit organizations are under assault today as perhaps never before, with consequences that could be profound for the future of these organizations and for those they serve. Proposals to cap the federal tax deduction for charitable contributions have become an increasingly common feature of budget-balancing measures from both ends of the political spectrum; a growing number of state and local governments have imposed new taxes and other fees on nonprofits, and shifts in government payment methods that advantage forprofit businesses have led to a significant loss of market share for nonprofits in a number of traditional nonprofit fields of activity.This report grows out of a first step toward meeting this challenge: to see whether there is a meaningful degree of consensus about the distinctive values of the nonprofit sector among a significant portion of the sector's organizations. More than that, the work on which this report is based also sought to explore two other matters: first, how well nonprofit organizations feel they actually embody the values they profess; and second, how successful they feel the sector has been in conveying these values to key stakeholders and supporters.To shed light on these matters, the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project surveyed the 1,500 nonprofit organizations in the three core fields of human services, community development, and the arts that have agreed to serve as the Project's eyes and ears on major developments affecting the nonprofit sector across the country. The results reflect the responses of 731 organizations -- enough to provide a statistically significant sample of nonprofit organizations of various sizes, and of nonprofit activity, in these fields.While we do not claim these results are representative of the nonprofit sector as a whole (hospitals and higher education, for example, are not included), we do believe they are representative of both the total number of organizations and the lion's share of the nonprofit activity in these three core fields, which embrace a significant portion of all nonprofit organizations

Communiqué No. 19: Recession Pressures on Nonprofit Jobs

Summarizes findings from a national survey on nonprofit employment that was conducted in April 2010. The report describes evidence of workforce strain during the current recession with increased demand for services. Nonprofit have also demonstrated resilience in maintaining staffing levels

Communiqué No. 16: Escalating Pension Benefit Costs -- Another Threat to Nonprofit Survival?

Provides findings from a national survey of nonprofits that examines the benefits of nonprofit retirement programs, explores the financial stress the plans are under, and describes the coping strategies developed by organizations

Communiqué No. 15: Health Care and Nonprofits: The Hidden Dimension of America's Health Care Crisis

Providings findings from a national survey that examines how nonprofits and their employees are affected by rising health care costs

Communiqué No. 10: A Nonprofit Workforce Action Agenda

Presents findings from the Listening Post Project roundtable on nonprofit recruitment and retention that was convened on March 5, 2008

Communiqué No. 22: What Do Nonprofits Stand For? Renewing the Nonprofit Value Commitment

This report aims to determine the core values of the nonprofit sector. It found that a broad group of nonprofits are in agreement about these value attributes, but feel that key stakeholders in government, the media, and the general public do not understand them and the consequences could be harmful for the sector unless steps are taken to correct this. With bibliographical references

Communiqué No. 21: Taxing the Tax-exempt Sector: A Growing Danger for Nonprofit Organizations

Presents findings from a survey of nonprofit organizations in four fields: children and family services, elderly housing and services, community and economic development, and arts and culture. Report sheds light on the practice of state and local governments targeting nonprofits as sources of needed revenues, sometimes using special fees, field-specific taxes, or PILOTs that get around nonprofit exemptions from property and other taxes. With bibliographical references

The Nonprofit Technology Gap - Myth or Reality?

Presents findings of a technology survey of roughly 1,100 nonprofit organizations in four key fields (children and family services, elderly housing and services, community and economic development, and the arts) in 2009. Includes numerous charts and tables

Holding the Fort: Nonprofit Employment During a Decade of Turmoil

This report presents data on year-to-year changes in employment in nonprofit establishments in the United States from January 2000 through June 2010, with a special focus on how nonprofit employment fared during the 2007-2009 recession. Examines data by nonprofit fields, geographic region, and compares it to findings in the for-profit sector. With bibliographical references

Communiqué No. 13: Listening Post Project Roundtable on Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying

Summarizes findings from a Listening Post Project roundtable convened in July 2008. The participants included nonprofit advocacy experts and practitioners representing both nonprofit intermediaries and nonprofit service organizations