Not-for-Profit, For-the-Economy: Mission-based organizations are economic drivers.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: NONPROFITS

In late October I was invited to visit Catholic Social Services as it hosted a small ceremony and reception to announce that Wells Fargo Housing Foundation had donated $100,000 to the Path to Independence program, "an initiative to quickly house individuals and families experiencing homelessness while working to ensure they remain housed and find long-term financial independence," to quote myself in the November 1 edition of the Alaska Business Monitor.

I worked this event into my schedule for several reasons: Alaska Business, through our magazine and website, does occasionally spotlight philanthropic efforts, and this one in particular--which touched on housing issues (an ongoing problem for individuals and businesses alike) in Alaska--highlighted the way in which Alaska's organizations are working together to solve problems to benefit the community. I saw it as a positive story about partnership, communication, housing, and business in Alaska. And it was.

But I didn't plan to connect with Gabriel Layman, chief operating officer and general counsel for Cook Inlet Housing Authority, or for him to mention that The Foraker Group updated its report on the economic impact of nonprofits in Alaska, or for him to then take the initiative to introduce me to Laurie Wolf, president and CEO of The Foraker Group--and then in one conversation with her I fell headlong into the fascinating and surprising depths of the Alaska nonprofit sector.

The Stats

According to Alaska Nonprofit Sector: Generating Economic Impact, the fourth iteration of the report and published in January 2018. 44.100 people were directly employed by nonprofit organizations in 2015--and counting indirect and induced jobs, that number jumps to more than 67.000. "If nonprofits were treated as their own industry, they would be the second largest source of non-government employment behind oil and gas in Alaska," according to the report. Nonprofits provide almost twice as many jobs as the next largest sector (tourism) and employ nearly two-thirds as many people as the largest sector (oil and gas). The report continues to say 17 percent of all employment in Alaska is in the nonprofit sector, including up to 40 percent of all employment in some rural areas.

In 2015 the sector paid a total of $3.89 billion in total wages: $2.68 billion through direct jobs and $605 million for induced jobs and $605 million in indirect jobs. As a group, nonprofits generated $6.98 billion in revenue in 2016. In fact, from 2013 to 2016 (generally bad years for Alaska), this sector actually saw revenues go up, rising 6 percent in those three years. According to the report. "At the same time [period], state economic output as measured by gross domestic product fell by about 15 percent, from $58.9 billion to $50.7 billion. This illustrates how nonprofits are a stabilizing factor in the economy."

Of the nearly 6,000 nonprofits in Alaska, 77 percent are classified as 501(c)(3)s, which includes charitable, religious, scientific, educational, or other public purpose organizations; 7 percent are 501(c) (4)s, including social welfare organizations like civic leagues, rotary clubs, and employee associations; 5 percent are 501(c)(6)s, which are business leagues, such as chambers of commerce; and 10 percent are other classes of nonprofits, like credit unions or utilities.

Providing jobs to Alaskans

According to Wolf of The Foraker Group, there are twenty-nine different kinds of nonprofit classifications in total, and the organizations within those classifications include everything from industry...