Civic & Social Organizations
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Industry Structure, How Firms Opertate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Quarterly Insight, Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 24,100 civic and social organizations in the US promote the civic and social interests of members. The industry includes a wide range of organizations, including alumni groups, booster clubs, fraternal associations, scouting organizations, PTAs, fraternities and sororities, student associations, and veteran’s organizations. Civic and social groups operate as non-profit organizations and are exempt from federal income taxes.
Membership Affected by Demographic Trends
Because most civic and social groups operate locally, demographic trends in a particular market can greatly affect membership.
Reliance on Contributions
Contributions, gifts, and grants account for almost 30% of industry revenue and are the single largest source of funding for civic and social organizations.
Industry size & Structure
A typical civic or social organization operates out of a single location, employs about 11-12 workers, and generates $809,000 annually.
- The civic and social organization industry consists of 24,100 organizations that employ 274,300 workers, and generate over $19 billion annually.
- The industry includes a wide range of organizations, including alumni groups, booster clubs, fraternal associations, scouting organizations, PTAs, fraternities and sororities, student associations, and veteran's organizations.
- The industry is highly fragmented; the 50 largest organizations account for just over 15% of industry revenue.
- Large organizations include Freemasons, Boy Scouts, American Legion, and the YMCA.
- A vast majority of civic and social organizations are non-profit.
Industry Forecast
Civic & Social Organizations Industry Growth
Coronavirus Update
May 9, 2022 - Charitable Giving Increased In 2021
- Charitable Giving increased 2.7% year over year in 2021, surpassing the unprecedented increase of 2020, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. New retained donors – those who gave to a particular organization for the first time in 2020 and then continued giving to that organization in 2021 – increased 26% during the period while the total number of donors decreased 5.7%.
- Repeated waves of spiking COVID-19 cases may complicate some organizations’ plans to normalize member access, activities, and/or programs. The latest wave – caused by the highly-contagious Omicron variant – pushed US hospitalizations to their highest numbers since the pandemic began. New COVID-19 case rates increased in late April, with the seven-day rolling average increasing to roughly 72,300 on May 7, up from 58,000 on May 1 and 30,000 cases per day on April 8, according to a New York Times COVID-19 case tracker. Experts note that the American population has different vaccination rates, levels of previous exposure to the virus, and degrees of underlying health conditions, so the trajectory of new cases could vary. Analysts note that the data regarding new cases are getting less reliable as the public testing infrastructure continues to wind down and home test results are less likely to be reported to officials.
- Many civic and social organizations suspended member access, activities, and programs during the pandemic based on recommendations from the CDC and federal, state, and local health officials. Some organizations offered online alternatives for classes and activities. Other outreach efforts included programs where volunteers call to check in on and provide a contact for isolated and homebound seniors, email information on depression and stress reduction and provide referrals to calls for help. As the pandemic has caused job losses and other stresses on military families, some VFW posts have raised food donations and are delivering them to military families in need. According to the Military Family Advisory Network, in 2021, one in five military families was food insecure compared to one in eight in 2019.
- State and local governments are free to spend the $360 billion in aid allocated to them in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) on nonprofits. More than 80% of city finance officers said direct federal aid positively affected their fiscal year 2021 budgets, according to the annual City Fiscal Conditions survey released by the National League of Cities in October 2021. Two-thirds of cities said that ARPA funding helped replace lost revenue, and more than half used ARPA funds to directly aid households, small businesses, nonprofits, and local industries.
- Many companies are giving up on the idea of forecasting when they will be able to bring all employees back to the office, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nonprofits are also adjusting to the idea that working remotely may be here to stay. More than 85% of nonprofits expect their operations will be completely virtual within the next three years, according to Salesforce.com’s most recent Nonprofit Trends Report. Challenges to reopening include whether or not to require masks and/or vaccinations, what percentage of workers should return, and how vaccination status should be determined, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Another key concern is ensuring that advancement opportunities remain equitable among employees who prefer to work remotely most of the time versus those who like to be in the office.
- Charitable giving was up in 2021 but the pandemic put a dent in volunteering. Just over 80% of Americans say they donated to charity in 2021, compared to 73% who did so in 2020, according to a Gallup poll released in January. The percentage of Americans who say they volunteered slipped to 56% in 2021 from 58% in 2020, however. While giving levels in 2021 were consistent across all income groups, volunteering saw the biggest dip among households with incomes of $100,000 or more. Both giving and volunteerism remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2021.
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