This brief documents the prevalence of funding for nonprofits from charitable giving and philanthropy and the percentage of revenue nonprofits received from it, the importance of and changes in individual donations, and changes in grants from private foundations. For Massachusetts nonprofits, we provide breakdowns by region and size.

Key Findings

• Grants from private foundations were the most common type of philanthropy for Massachusetts nonprofits, with 75 percent of organizations reporting receiving them in 2023.
• Fifty-two percent of the average Massachusetts nonprofit’s revenue came from charitable giving and philanthropy in 2023—including 25 percent from individual donations.
• Sixty-eight percent of Massachusetts nonprofit leaders reported that individual donations were essential or very important to their organizations’ work.
• Similar to the rest of the country, about one in five Massachusetts experienced declines in individual donations and foundation and corporate grants and donations in 2023.

How We Did It

The data, which come from the Nonprofit Trends and Impacts Study, are representative at the national and Massachusetts levels.