A Profile of Nonprofit Organizations in Central Louisiana

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Abstract

Nonprofit organizations in Central Louisiana are an integral part of community life, helping people in need and providing cultural and civic opportunities to local residents. Yet, most people have only a vague idea of the number and types of nonprofits in the region or the financial resources needed to support and sustain them. This comprehensive study of Central Louisiana's nonprofit sector examines the size, scope, and financial underpinning, and explores the extent to which nonprofits and religious congregations collaborate. It also reports the challenges that nonprofit and faith-based leaders see as critical to the region. A companion report, Central Louisiana in Focus, provides a statistical fact sheet for each of the region's nine parishes.

Introduction

Every day, nonprofits in Central Louisiana make a difference in someone's life. They provide an array of services, foster civic participation, and help strengthen and enrich communities. Nonprofits are also an economic force in the region, providing jobs, purchasing commodities, and selling their products and services. Despite these contributions toward building civil society in local areas, most people have only a vague idea of the number and types of nonprofits found in their communities or the amount of financial resources needed to support and sustain this work.

This report, commissioned by Community Development Works, a program of The Rapides Foundation, is a comprehensive study of Central Louisiana's nonprofit sector. It gives residents and community leaders the tools for understanding the basic size, scope, and financial dimensions of the sector, the extent to which nonprofits and faith-based organizations collaborate with one another, and a framework for understanding the challenges and issues facing the nonprofit sector.

The study was guided by six questions:

• What is the overall size and scope of Central Louisiana's nonprofit sector, and how does this compare with other regions in the state?
• How are nonprofit resources distributed in Central Louisiana, and does this vary by type of service provided (e.g., health care, education, human services, etc.), location, and access to financial support?
• How well are nonprofit financial resources in Central Louisiana managed—for example, how much is spent on management and administrative costs, and are nonprofits ending the year with a positive operating budget?
• How often do nonprofits and faith-based organizations in Central Louisiana work with one another?
• What challenges do nonprofit and faith-based leaders in Central Louisiana see as critical to their ability to build capacity and provide needed services that will enhance the quality of life in the region?
• What are the strengths and distinctive features of Central Louisiana's nonprofit charitable sector?

Data for the study are from a survey of 244 randomly selected nonprofit and faith-based organizations in Central Louisiana that responded to a telephone survey conducted by Louisiana State University between November 2008 and January 2009. Financial data for nonprofits in Central Louisiana and other parts of the state are from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) at the Urban Institute. These data are based on the Forms 990 that nonprofits filed with the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) for the year 2006. Because of lags in data processing, 2006 data provide the most complete records for analysis.

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