A new report from the Vermont Community Foundation provides the first comprehensive look at Vermont’s nonprofit sector in almost a decade. Vermont’s Nonprofit Sector: A Vital Community in a Time of Change reveals that Vermonters have a great deal of trust in nonprofit organizations to deliver quality services on their behalf. Overwhelmingly, Vermonters’ have a firm understanding of what nonprofits are and positive impressions of their work. However, the report suggests the public needs better information to help them evaluate whether the nonprofit sector is providing its services efficiently.
Rarely is this sector looked at as a whole for its vital role in the social fabric of our communities, and its contributions to Vermont’s economy. There are over 4,000 nonprofit organizations in Vermont. These account for revenue of over $4 billion and almost 20% of our annual Gross State Product. These organizations provide essential health and human services, arts and culture, community development, environmental stewardship, and a host of other services in every county of the state.
This new report goes well beyond the numbers. It looks at the impressions Vermonters have of the nonprofit world and the pulse of the sector through the eyes of our nonprofit leaders. Those leaders are concerned about declining levels of support, but they remain resilient and committed to providing services even as they cut staff and other operating costs. The report also indicated that as nonprofits struggle to meet their budgets, economic pressures from the loss of traditional funding streams seem to be moving many leaders to think in more creative and entrepreneurial ways.
The report comes at a pivotal time, when the basic role of each major sector’government, nonprofit, and for-profit’is being re-examined in the light of new economic realities.
‘The more we can understand about the nonprofit sector’s current challenges, the better we can concentrate our resources on building its strength and developing opportunities,’ explains Vermont Community Foundation President & CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay. ‘This is particularly critical now, as our nation’s economic struggle put new strains on nonprofits to deliver more with less.’
The Vermont Community Foundation has been dedicated to the growth of philanthropic resources that sustain healthy and vital Vermont communities since its founding in 1986. It worked closely with the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont and Common Good Vermont to conduct the surveys and interviews that provided the basis for the report’s findings. Vermont’s Nonprofit Sector is part of the Foundation’s Understanding Vermont series, and is available at www.understandingvt.org
Source: (MIDDLEBURY) Vermont Community Foundation. 12.15.2010
New report focuses on Vermont’s $4 billion nonprofits
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