February 18, 2005

Event: Tuesday, February 22, 2005, 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Los Angeles Central Library, S. Mark Taper Auditorium
Free; RSVP to Ingrid Lopez at (213) 623-7080 ext. 29

What would you do if you had $34 billion to spend on the common good in Southern California? How much would you spend on health services? On education? The poor and vulnerable? Artistic and cultural expression? What segments of the nonprofit sector in Southern California have the most power, in terms of people and resources? How much leverage could be gained by consolidating the multitude of smaller and community-based nonprofits into fewer, larger organizations? What would we lose by doing that?

These are not mere hypothetical questions. Nonprofit leaders, donors, public officials and policy makers must constantly ask themselves whether they are doing the best they can for the communities they serve. Journalists reporting on nonprofit organizations need information about how each fits with the needs of the community and compares to other similar organizations. Without accurate information about such things as the number of nonprofits in a given service field or locale and the amount of resources they control, efforts to increase efficiencies, to “do more with less” (the perennial charge of the nonprofit sector) involve a lot of guesswork and may be based on faulty assumptions.

On Tuesday, February 22, the Center for Nonprofit Management, based in Los Angeles, and the Gianneschi Center for Nonprofit Research at California State University, Fullerton, will release a report, Southern California’s Nonprofit Sector, to answer more of these questions.

This report focuses on public charities in the 10 Southern California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Imperial and Kern.

The 10 counties that comprise the Southern California region are home to nearly two-thirds of the state’s population and more than half of its reporting 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. According to the report,
• 13,370 Southern California 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations reported gross receipts of more than $25,000 in 2000 (referred to as “financially active”).
• These 13,370 Southern California nonprofits reported total revenue of $38 billion and assets of $62 billion. This represents per capita revenues of $1,843 for all Southern California residents.
• Southern California nonprofits reported paying over $13 billion in wages, benefits and personnel expenses.
• $11.2 billion, or about 30 percent of reported Southern California nonprofit revenue came from contributions, gifts and grants.
• $22.6 billion, or about 60 percent of reported Southern California nonprofit revenue came earned revenue from program services.
• Large organizations controlled the lion’s share of revenue, and health organizations dominated the sector: 133 hospitals reported over $12 billion in total revenues, over one-third of the revenues reported by all Southern California nonprofits.
• 133 hospitals and 66 universities reported $15 billion in revenue, or approximately 40 percent of Southern California nonprofit revenues.
• Excluding hospitals and universities because of their extraordinary budget sizes, 13,171 Southern California nonprofits reported per capita revenues of $1,098.

The purpose of the study is to help nonprofit leaders, donors and policy-makers to allocate resources to help Southern California communities. It can help show where services are needed and where they can potentially be consolidated.

A copy of the complete report on disk may be purchased on a disk for $20 from the Center for Nonprofit Management. (Free electronic copies can be made available to journalists – contact us for more information).
Additional information will be posted on the following Web sites:
• www.cnmsocal.org
• www.fullerton.edu/GCNR

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