Statistics About Nonprofits in Washington State

There is more recent information about Washington's nonprofits "by the numbers" at http://www.tess.org/ON/0402_NUMBERS.html.

Nonprofit corporations in Washington state register with the Corporations Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

Washington state law permits many kinds of nonprofit corporations; only some Washington nonprofit corporations qualify as "tax exempt entities" under federal tax law.

There are many kinds of tax-exempt entities in the federal tax code.  Only some of them are "charities" -- the familiar identification as a "501(c)(3)" is a reference to the section of the Internal Revenue Code that describes charities. Only some tax-exempt organizations -- the larger ones -- file returns (called "990s") with the IRS to report information about their finances. 

For the 2003 Nonprofit Leadership Conference, Putnam Barber collected some recent information about the numbers of nonprofit corporations and 501(c)(3)s in the state.  (To see a report of the conference, click here.)

Some key statistics about the numbers of nonprofits in Washington state:

Note: Federal numbers in 1999 are based on filings in that year.