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The Largest Nonprofits in Each State

Thursday, January 18, 2018

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The largest nonprofit in each State

There are over 1.5 million registered nonprofits in the United States, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. This remarkably large number consists of public charities, private foundations, and other entities like chambers of commerce, volunteer-run organizations, and other civic leagues.

We know nonprofits are formed to make a change in a local community or for public benefit, but they are also a large force of the American economy, accounting for 11.4 million jobs and 10.3% of all private sector employment according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Raking of the top nonprofits per State, Kaiser Foundation of Portland, Oregon is the top

Of course, just like any other business, registered nonprofits come in all different sizes and have been created for various causes and visions—but what are the biggest nonprofits in each state? We pulled together nonprofit data from all 50 states and Washington D.C. to find the answers to these questions and more.

In our research, we found that the largest nonprofits in each state (when calculating by total receipts and assets) were concentrated in five areas: health, education, conservation, finance, and community-based organizations. In 33 states plus Washington D.C., a health organization tallied in as the largest nonprofit. Just six states have a community organization as their largest nonprofit, and six more have an education organization as their largest. This is followed by four states that have a finance organization as their largest nonprofit and just one lone state, Virginia, whose largest nonprofit is The Nature Conservancy.

It turns out that health organizations not only represent most of the states’ largest nonprofits, but they also make up the top five biggest nonprofits when looking at all of the data from this study combined. Coming in at number one is the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. in Oregon, established in 1955, which has total receipts amounting to a $66,889,601,170. California’s Dignity Health is behind it, but with significantly less total receipts, which amounted to $10,283,716,874.

Rounding out the top five is UPMC in Pennsylvania with over $9 billion in total receipts, Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio with $8.8 billion in total receipts, and Banner Health in Arizona with $8.5 billion in total receipts. Conversely, the smallest nonprofit out of all the data that was studied was the Sandia Foundation in New Mexico, a financial nonprofit whose total receipts were $62,411,485.
Interestingly, some of the largest nonprofits in the country are represented in the smallest states, such as a financial nonprofit called Communfund in Connecticut, which has total receipts of $4,771,370,345. And Saint Francis Hospital in Oklahoma also has quite the large amount of total receipts, which equal $3,970,090,877.

Many of these large nonprofits have been long established, with a majority of them having a founding date in the 20th century (the oldest being The Billings Clinic in Montana, dating back to 1925). But there’s still plenty of room for the younger nonprofits at the top, with the youngest nonprofit, Sanford Health in North Dakota (established in 2011), coming in at #19 on our list with total receipts of $3,413,720,012.

To learn how we partner with nonprofits, click here.

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  1. Joe Ralko Joe Ralko As someone very active in nonprofits in Canada, I found this very interesting. However, what is the definition of "receipts"? Does this mean the amount of money donated to the organization or revenues generated, which are to different things. Friday, March 23, 2018
  2. Marshall Marshall Joe,
    In the U.S. all NPOs are required to do a form (990) for the federal govt. This reports their receipts (which are both donations & revenue) and their assets. This information is also made public on Guidestar website.
    I also found this list informative, as it puts the information into a different format. Wednesday, June 6, 2018
  3. Atom Miller Atom Miller I want to talk. Wednesday, May 12, 2021
  4. Camden Francis Camden Francis Website: www.beyondthecrisis.org

    A Nonprofit Organization "Beyond the Crisis" Started By Two Brothers During a Global Pandemic

    Imagine your young child telling you that they are hungry, but you have no food to give them. That’s hard for many of us to fathom, but because of the massive loss of jobs and other life upheavals caused by the global pandemic, Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food pantries, estimates that approximately 42 million children and adults struggle with food insecurity. However, tens of millions of people in America – the wealthiest country in the world – struggled with food insecurity before the pandemic, and many will continue to face hunger after it has subsided.

    My brother and I were deeply disturbed when we watched TV news accounts of distressed people waiting in long lines for hours to obtain donated food to feed their families. Seeing that so many children and adults were experiencing hunger when we were fortunate enough to eat whatever we want compelled us to make an impact in our community.

    In 2020, after extensive research and networking, I officially established Beyond the Crisis ©, a nonprofit organization with the help of my younger brother, Colton, as part of a major regional effort to mitigate food hunger in Massachusetts.

    Our mission is to provide food to numerous families in the greater Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, regions. We have established personal relationships with more than 35 food suppliers (grocery stores, food pantries, farms, and private benefactors) that have pledged food and monetary donations.

    One of our partners is Catholic Charities of Boston. This 118-year-old nonprofit organization is one of the largest in Massachusetts. Beyond the Crisis joins other similar organizations that help Catholic Charities of Boston feed more than 100,000 food-insecure individuals each year.

    In addition, to distributing nonperishables to nonprofits, we plan to find methods to recover food from restaurants before it expires to deliver warm meals to residents in need while reducing the amount of food waste in Massachusetts.

    We could not have established this nonprofit without the support and encouragement of our parents. Thanks to our parents, we have always had the moral obligation to help people in need.

    We began volunteering at local food pantries and food banks at a very young age. Moreover, volunteering gives us gratitude, improves our emotional and spiritual wellbeing, and reduces our stress.

    We believe that “to give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity,” a quote from the late British author and screenwriter Douglas Adams.

    We look forward to continually serving children and families in our community and working to mitigate food insecurity one meal at a time.

    Sincerely,
    Camden and Colton Francis
    Founder & Co-Founder Sunday, October 2, 2022
  5. Clifton Blanchett Clifton Blanchett www.healthmarkets.com/cblanchett Thursday, April 6, 2023