Research & Policy
The Human Service Chamber of Franklin County regularly studies human service sector trends and conducts research on nonprofits to better understand the sector. This research also provides nonprofits and the general public with accurate and timely information about key issues of common interest to build healthy organizations and a healthy human service sector.
In addition, the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County supports individual nonprofits and the human service sector to be their own voice in the public policy process. We provide training on advocacy and lobbying, serve as a resource to policymakers on the sector, and advocate on issues that impact all human service organizations.
A Vision for the Economic Success of Central Ohio
A proposal for investing forthcoming casino revenues to support our city’s most vulnerable residents
October 24, 2011
The Human Service Chamber of Franklin County is requesting that the City of Columbus allocate 12.9% ($3.1 million) of the city’s annual estimated casino tax revenues for additional investment in strengthening the city’s vital human service agencies and services. These resources are urgently needed to address the community’s growing human service needs and to fill resource gaps that service providers are facing from cuts in local and state government and public and private sector funding. The need is urgent. Our community is on a collision course between the increasing service needs of its residents and shrinking resources to provide those services.
The nonprofit sector in Franklin County generates significant
economic benefits for residents. Franklin County’s nonprofits can be
found in every subsector of the service economy, including a strong
presence in health care, human services, education, and the arts.
This report documents that nonprofit organizations in Franklin County:
- Number 1,166 nonprofit organizations (establishments that were exempt from federal income tax). This figure does not include any nonprofit organizations that do not have employees.
- Generate $6 billion in business activity (sales, shipments, receipts, revenue, other business).
- Employ directly more than 51,916 paid employees.
- Pay their employees more than $2.2 billion.
In addition, the report which places a special emphasis on Human Service Nonprofit Organizations shows:
- The nonprofit sector represents 1 out of every 13 jobs in Franklin County, or 7.5% of the 688,252 total jobs in the county estimated by the Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages in 2007.
- Applying a composite rate of 2.25% for the income tax rates of jurisdictions in Franklin County, the payroll of the nonprofit sector generates $48.5 million in income tax revenue.
This report makes clear, what nonprofit organizations have known for years, nonprofit organizations through employment, activity and expenditures provide vital economic support to the local economy. While the nonprofit sector is not traditionally thought of as an economic powerhouse, its billions of dollars in expenditures—and the fact that demand for many nonprofit services increases during times of economic stress—show that a healthy and vibrant nonprofit sector is critical to the future of our local and state economies.
