The Mission-Driven Economy The crucial role nonprofits play in Alaska.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: NONPROFIT

The 5,620 nonprofits in Alaska range from sports leagues and outdoor recreation organizations to rural and urban hospitals, clinics, and community health centers. Nonprofits provide housing--for seniors, individuals with disabilities, or low-income populations--as well as childcare services, youth programs, and vocational training. Civic and social clubs count as nonprofits, and so do colleges, universities, labor unions, and volunteer associations.

According to Alaska's Nonprofit Sector: Generating Economic Impact, a report released by The Foraker Group in December 2021, Alaska's nonprofits not only provide essential services but also create jobs, directly employing more than 38,105 Alaskans. Those jobs, as well as the goods and services that nonprofits regulre, in turn sustain another 57,922 jobs in the state. Altogether, these jobs translate into $4.1 billion in direct, indirect, and induced wages generated by the nonprofit sector. Seven previous reports have reached similar conclusions.

"Every three years we put together this report, and every time we're showing how truly important Alaska nonprofits are to the economy," says Laurie Wolf, president and CEO of The Foraker Group, itself a 501(c) (3) nonprofit with the mission of supporting and promoting all other nonprofits. "Depending on the community, nonprofits on average employ 13 percent of the workforce--and in some communities, it can be up to 50 percent."

Wolf notes that nonprofits are especially important in rural Alaska. "We have no county system of government, so nonprofits fill the roles that governments would play in any other state," she says. "They provide direct services--they are the utility company, the telephone company, the fire department, the libraries in many communities across Alaska."

For example, healthcare is often the largest employer in any given region, and the largest hospitals are operated by nonprofits. In the villages, social and human services are generally provided through nonprofits, often associated with tribal entities or Alaska Native regional or village corporations. Nearly one quarter of non-government jobs are tied to nonprofits through indirect and induced effects.

"While many Alaskans think that it's private industry or government doing the work, nonprofits are actually the backbone of the state," says Wolf. "We can't thrive without nonprofits, government, and industry all playing a role and working together."

United for Social Welfare

Buddy Custard, president and CEO of Alaska Chadux Network, has a relatively small staff, but the work...