Commissioned by the Wisconsin Nonprofits Association, HBI scholars and staff have published this Wisconsin Nonprofit “Size & Scope” report to provide an overview of the State’s nonprofit sector. The report is designed to promote an understanding of the importance of Wisconsin’s nonprofit sector to the well-being of Wisconsin’s citizens by providing the following:

• Background on how nonprofits are defined and classified.
• Explanation of those nonprofits for which data are easily available— or not—and why.
• Numbers and growth of Wisconsin’s nonprofit sector.
• Information about nonprofit revenue — amounts and sources.
• Facts about nonprofits that correct common misunderstandings about the sector.
• Highlights regarding unique and important aspects of the sector.

This report reveals the following (and more):

• Wisconsin’s nonprofit sector is growing and there are many more nonprofits than we are able to easily count.
• Nonprofits rely on a broad array of revenue sources and amounts and sources of revenue vary significantly among different types of nonprofits.
• Government continues to rely on nonprofits to perform a number of key functions in our communities and challenges remain related to the contracts and grants involved.
• Both staff and volunteers play critical roles in carrying out nonprofit missions.

Download a copy of the Nonprofit Wisconsin in Brief: Size and Scope .