This brief examines selected metrics of Massachusetts nonprofits’ fiscal health in 2023: changes in nonprofits’ expenses; trends in nonprofits’ revenue sources; the extent to which nonprofits used their reserves, borrowed funds, or increased their lines of credit; and how much nonprofits had in reserves. For Massachusetts nonprofits, we provide breakdowns by region and size.

Key Findings

• Expenses for most Massachusetts nonprofits increased from 2022 to 2023.
• The steady revenue mix of the average Massachusetts nonprofit from 2019 to 2023 shows that charitable giving and philanthropy, followed by grants and contracts from government agencies and then fees-for-services, were the top sources of funding.
• While not widespread among nonprofits in Massachusetts, drawing from reserves, borrowing funds, and increasing their lines of credit appear to have been more common for nonprofits with larger expenses.
• At the start of 2024, nearly half of Massachusetts nonprofits did not have sufficient reserves to replace their revenue for three months if they were to suddenly lose all their revenue streams.

How We Did It

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