The nonprofit sector in New York employs more than 660,000 people and contributes more than $77 billion annually to its economy, city Comptroller Scott Stringer said.
That represents 9.4% of city economic output, Stringer said in an
This sector, according to Stringer, was growing before COVID-19 struck, with the number of nonprofit establishments increasing by 6.6% from 2013 to 2017, compared with 5.7% growth in all private companies in the city. More than 13,000 nonprofits with paid employees exist in the city, with nearly 5% of all business entities.
Since the pandemic struck, however, many nonprofits have suspended operations and some could permanently. Others have lost government funding or philanthropic contributions, have laid off staff, or have had to cut programs due to stay-at-home directives, insufficient staff and volunteers, or dwindling funding.
“The nonprofit sector cannot be sidelined during conversations about the city’s economic health and stability,” Stringer said. “New York City’s nonprofit sector is a critical driver of the city’s economy. Nonprofit organizations provide essential cultural, educational, health and social services.”
City nonprofits include government partners, service providers, cultural organizations and advocates. More than half are religious, civic and social services organizations.
Nonprofits, he said, employ almost 18% of the city’s private workforce and account for nearly 5% of all businesses. They pay nearly $42 billion in wages each year and have workforces consisting primarily of women and people of color.
Stringer’s office drew on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics research data on the nonprofit sector from 2017. It based its estimate of the contribution to the city’s gross domestic product on input-output final demand multipliers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The pandemic has hit the city especially hard, with Mayor Bill de Blasio and his budget office working to close an estimated $9 billion revenue gap for fiscal 2020 and 2021. De Blasio and the City Council finalized an $88.2 billion
The latest federal rescue bill, the $2 trillion HEROES bill, is stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Stringer and the organization Nonprofit New York and nonprofit needs at the forefront of relief and recovery efforts.
