Report: MoCo Nonprofits Are Growing, Driving Local Economy

County officials, nonprofit leaders and others held a press event today to celebrate the release of a report that shows 10 percent of Montgomery’s workforce is employed by nonprofits and the sector has nearly $4 billion in purchasing power.

According to the report, county nonprofits employ 43,371 people and pay out $2.2 billion in wages. That employment base grew 9.1 percent between 2007 and 2011 as overall employment in the county dropped by 2.5 percent.

“Although leaders in government and business may intuitively understand the value of the nonprofit community, this new report compellingly quantifies the return on investment that nonprofit businesses provide,” said Chuck Bean, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, in a prepared statement. “This cutting-edge examination of the business of doing good in Montgomery County is the new model — now it’s time to do this analysis in every jurisdiction in our region.”

The county’s Department of Economic Development and Department of Health and Human Services funded the report.

Economic Development director Steve Silverman said nonprofits play “an essential” role in the county’s economy.

“The nonprofit sector is a significant and stable source of good jobs, and this report is a reminder that we should strive to attract and retain nonprofit businesses of all types and sizes, just as we do with for-profit businesses,” Silverman said in the release.

The event today was held at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring.

Flickr pool photo by AmyMarieMoore

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