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Nonprofit Workforce Demographics Statistics: Staff, Pay, and Capacity

A data-led look at nonprofit workforce demographics, earnings, staffing pressure, and nonprofit news capacity.

November 12, 2026 9 min read fuundec.org Editorial Team

Contents

Nonprofit workforce demographics statistics: gender, age, and race

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes private nonprofit employment in 2022 using the Current Population Survey annual average. These figures cover employed people age 16 and over and refer to a worker’s sole or primary job. Within that scope, women accounted for 66.1% of private nonprofit workers and men for 33.9%. The sex distribution offers a clear broad demographic measure, but it does not describe every nonprofit worker or all jobs held by a person. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

2022 private nonprofit workforce measureShare
Women66.1%
Men33.9%
Age 16 to 249.5%
Age 25 to 5463.9%
Age 55 and older26.6%

The age figures show that workers age 25 to 54 formed the largest of the three reported age groups, at 63.9%. Workers age 55 and older accounted for 26.6%, while those age 16 to 24 accounted for 9.5%. These are shares of private nonprofit employment, not counts of workers and not measures of tenure or career stage. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

The race and ethnicity series reports non-Hispanic White workers at 68.6% of private nonprofit employment, non-Hispanic Black workers at 11.9%, non-Hispanic Asian workers at 6.4%, and Hispanic or Latino workers at 10.4%. BLS notes that Hispanic or Latino may be of any race, so that category overlaps conceptually with race categories and should not be treated as a mutually exclusive race classification. The source presents these as employment shares for 2022, not as estimates for a later year. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

Nonprofit workforce demographics statistics: education, occupations, and credentials

Among private nonprofit workers age 25 and older in 2022, 32.7% had a master’s degree or higher, 31.9% had a bachelor’s degree, and 21.3% had some college or an associate’s degree. The remaining reported education categories were 12.4% with a high school diploma and no college, and 1.7% with less than a high school diploma. The measure describes educational attainment among employed adults age 25 and older; it does not indicate which credentials were required for their positions. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

Educational attainment, age 25 and olderShare of private nonprofit workers
Master’s degree or higher32.7%
Bachelor’s degree31.9%
Some college or associate’s degree21.3%
High school diploma, no college12.4%
Less than a high school diploma1.7%

The occupation distribution gives another view of workforce composition. Management, professional, and related occupations accounted for 70.7% of private nonprofit workers. Service occupations and sales and office occupations each accounted for 12.6%; natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations accounted for 1.6%. These are broad occupational groupings, not a list of job titles or a division between direct service and administrative work. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

The education and occupation measures refer to related but different populations: the education table is limited to workers age 25 and older, while the occupation table covers employed people age 16 and over. Reading them together can describe the breadth of the workforce, but the figures do not establish that a particular education level corresponds to a particular occupation. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

Nonprofit workforce demographics statistics: earnings and work arrangements

For 2022, median usual weekly earnings were $1,163 for full-time private nonprofit wage and salary workers. The BLS measure excludes self-employed workers and defines full-time workers as those who usually work at least 35 hours per week at their sole or principal job. It is a weekly median, not an annual salary estimate or a measure of total compensation. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

Full-time private nonprofit wage and salary workersMedian usual weekly earnings in 2022
Total$1,163
Men$1,347
Women$1,101
Hispanic or Latino$1,006
Non-Hispanic White$1,214
Non-Hispanic Black$949
Non-Hispanic Asian$1,439

These subgroup medians are reported for full-time wage and salary workers, excluding self-employed people. They show variation across the listed groups, but the supplied figures do not explain why the medians differ. They also do not adjust for occupation, hours beyond the full-time threshold, location, seniority, or other factors, so they should not be read as a like-for-like pay comparison for otherwise equivalent work. Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

A separate BLS comparison expresses subgroup medians as a percentage difference from the overall private nonprofit median for full-time workers. The median for Hispanic or Latino men was 1.7% below that overall median, while the median for Hispanic or Latino women was 21.1% below it. These are the source’s reported differences, not newly calculated values. They complement the dollar medians but still do not account for differences in job mix or other characteristics. Source: BLS, 2022 sector and workforce tables

Nonprofit workforce demographics statistics: staffing pressure and service impacts

An Urban Institute study examined government funding disruptions experienced by nonprofits during 2025. Its weighted, nationally representative survey covers included U.S. 501(c)(3) public charities with annual expenses and revenues of at least $50,000. The report compares disrupted staffed nonprofits with staffed nonprofits overall. Among these groups, 30% of disrupted organizations decreased their total number of employees, compared with 20% of staffed nonprofits overall. Source: Urban Institute, workforce and community consequences of 2025 funding disruptions

Other reported workforce adjustments included freezing or reducing employee salaries at 18% of disrupted staffed nonprofits, compared with 12% of staffed nonprofits overall. Freezing or reducing employee benefits was reported by 9% of disrupted staffed nonprofits and 6% of staffed nonprofits overall. These comparisons describe reported organizational responses in the survey; they do not establish that every disruption led to each action. Source: Urban Institute, workforce and community consequences of 2025 funding disruptions

The report also links staffing reductions with reported service effects. Among staffed nonprofits that decreased their employee count, 27% suspended or paused services, compared with 11% of staffed nonprofits overall. In the same comparison, 43% of the employee-reducing group reduced the number of programs or services, compared with 16% overall; 30% reduced the number of people served, compared with 11% overall. These figures concern distinct outcomes and should be understood as survey comparisons rather than proof that staffing cuts alone caused service changes. Source: Urban Institute, workforce and community consequences of 2025 funding disruptions

For disrupted nonprofits overall, 20% reduced the number of people served, compared with 11% of nonprofits overall. The report identifies health nonprofits as especially likely to decrease employees: 44% of disrupted staffed health nonprofits did so. The health category includes examples such as community clinics, substance abuse prevention organizations, and crisis intervention hotlines; hospitals are excluded. Source: Urban Institute, workforce and community consequences of 2025 funding disruptions

Hiring intentions provide a separate, forward-looking indicator. The share of staffed nonprofits planning to hire during the following 12 months was 57% in late 2024, 41% in early 2025, and 38% as of early 2026. These are plans reported at the time, not counts of hires ultimately made. The sequence suggests that planned hiring was less commonly reported in the later survey periods, without establishing what produced the change. Source: Urban Institute, workforce and community consequences of 2025 funding disruptions

nonprofit workforce demographics: Nonprofit news workforce representation and staff capacity

The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) reports that 35% of staff at member outlets identified as people of color in 2025. The same report says 58% were white and race was not specified for another 6%. These figures describe INN member outlets, not the nonprofit sector as a whole. The categories and reporting scope are those used by INN, and the unreported share should not be interpreted as a demographic category. Source: INN, 2026 Index: Staff & Capacity

Representation varied by outlet type. Employees of color were 38% of staff at national/global nonprofit news organizations, 37% at local organizations, and 30% at state/regional organizations in 2025. Among INN Index organizations primarily focused on communities of color, the median organization-level share of staff who were people of color was 75%; among organizations that did not prioritize these communities, the median was 11%. The latter figures are medians across organizations in their respective groups, while the outlet-type figures are reported staff shares. Source: INN, 2026 Index: Staff & Capacity

INN also reported that women were 56% of staff at member outlets in 2025. This is a measure for nonprofit news organizations and has a different population and reporting framework from the BLS figure of women’s share of private nonprofit employment in 2022. The two figures can provide context about representation in distinct settings, but they should not be combined into a single time series. Source: INN, 2026 Index: Staff & Capacity

Nonprofit workforce demographics: volunteers and organizational capacity

The 412 nonprofit news organizations included in the 2026 INN Index reported 4,700 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2025. This is the total reported by participating Index organizations; INN separately estimates 5,000 FTE across its full membership, a figure not used here. Median staff size was 5 FTEs across the Index, with a median of 4 at local outlets and 11.5 at national outlets. The reported total and medians describe different aspects of capacity: aggregate staffing and the typical organization within the specified group. Source: INN, 2026 Index: Staff & Capacity

By reported function, 3,200 FTEs, or 69% of staff, were devoted to editorial work in 2025. Another 1,400 FTEs, or 31%, handled tasks such as revenue generation, technology, and general administration. These figures indicate that the organizations reported both editorial labor and operational functions as part of their staffing capacity; they do not mean that each organization had that exact distribution. Source: INN, 2026 Index: Staff & Capacity

Volunteer participation was reported by 40% of nonprofit news organizations in 2025, up from 36% in 2023. Among outlets providing information about volunteer roles, 52% of volunteers assisted with editorial duties. Other reported roles included executive management, revenue generation, and audience development, each at 10%. The figures describe whether organizations reported meaningful ongoing volunteer roles and the distribution of reported volunteer assistance; they do not provide a total volunteer headcount or hours worked. Source: INN, 2026 Index: Staff & Capacity

Sources

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