Episode 46: The 2021 NPT 100

Fresh Research, a NonProfit Times Podcast

MacKenzie Scott’s billions of dollars in mega gifts and American donors’ response to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) fueled the largest charities in the United States last year.

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The 2021 NPT 100 ranks the largest nonprofits in the U.S. that derive at least 10% of total revenue from public support. Colleges and universities are not included in the study and neither are donor-advised funds (DAF).

Jacob Harold

Jacob Harold, executive vice president of Candid, joins the discussion in this episode to talk about the 2020 numbers and what it could mean for charities moving forward. Candid helps provide data for The NPT 100. Also playing a part in this year’s report were Grant Thornton, which helps to compile and analyze the data, and Data Axle, which designed the charts that appear in the November print edition.

“How is it that during a crisis like this, the sector as a whole, or at least this group as a whole, was able to come away with not having to dip into reserves, ultimately, actually strengthening balance sheets,” Harold said during the conversation. “I think that’s a question that has a number of different dimensions to it that we should explore.”

Total revenue was an estimated $79.88 billion, an increase of 3% from the previous year for these 100 organizations but public support was up more than 6% to $48.568 billion. Other revenues that increased were government, almost 15% to $10.919 billion, and investment income, 11.2% to $3.327 billion. Program service revenue took a 12% hit, down to $14.65 billion. Other revenue declined almost 9%, to $2.471 billion.

GiveDirectly (No. 70, $306.216 million) in New York City, the Atlanta-based CDC Foundation (No. 86, $255.483 million) and Second Harvest Heartland (No. 94, $236.949 million) in Brooklyn Park, Minn., were among the fastest-growing nonprofits from 2019 to 2020. All three organizations ranked in the NPT 100 for the first time. Other nonprofits that returned to the top 100 after an absence included New York-based organizations Sesame Workshop (No. 89, $246.073 million) and Robin Hood (No. 97, $220.093 million).