onprofit organizations strengthen Alaska in two distinct ways: pursuing their individualized missions for the benefit of their members or clients and generating a significant amount of economic activity. The Foraker Group—which is itself a 501(c)(3) organization—specializes in supporting Alaska’s nonprofits. As part of that mission, and with the support of Credit Union 1, it published Alaska’s Nonprofit Sector: Generating Economic Impact, a report that examines how nonprofits are participating in Alaska’s economy.

While they can be grouped as an economic sector, nonprofits operate in a variety of industries, which in some ways masks their aggregate effects. “We often lose sight of the scale of their impact because nonprofits are not considered to be a single industry,” the report states. “When the state tracks jobs, it classifies them by industries—oil and gas, tourism, healthcare—not by the sector where the work originates—nonprofit, government, or private.”

In Alaska Trends this month, we pull data from this excellent report that demonstrates how essential nonprofits are to the state, even without considering the critical services they provide like medical care, housing, utilities, art, religious and cultural expression, education, and recreation.

For those interested in the full report, it can be found at forakergroup.org/speak-up/nonprofit-economic-impact.