Puget Sound Business Journal
September 29, 2010
A new report by a philanthropy watchdog lauds the Pacific Northwest as a leading region where nonprofit groups are using donated funds to generate a huge economic benefit for low income and marginalized residents.
The report says 20 nonprofit groups in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington used $23.2 million in donor funding to generate more than $5 billion in total economic benefit between 2005 and 2009.
The report, called "Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities" was researched and published by the Washington, D.C.-based National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
The funding that was analyzed in the study was largely provided by foundations and was used for advocacy, organizing and civic engagement programs that generated economic impact by providing wages, expanding services, attracting state investments and through "savings from ill-conceived and costly initiatives that were prevented."
