Talking Points for "Beyond Charity" (with MoCo focus)

The following article has talking points for the groundbreaking "Beyond Charity" report, with a specific Montgomery County focus. These are very useful in framing your own message and specifying the contributions your organization makes on a regional or local level.

BEYOND CHARITY: recognizing the return on investment of the nonprofit community in Montgomery County

Context –
• Although we often think of nonprofits as serving only our most vulnerable neighbors. In fact, there is no one in Montgomery County at any income level who has not turned to a nonprofit for services, whether it is to attend a world class symphony, make sure our middle-school daughter is in a vibrant after-school program, provide day care services for our elderly dad with Parkinson’s, or advocate for improved traffic patterns, additional stop signs or storm drains in our neighborhood.

• In fact, one of the main selling points for businesses and individuals moving to Montgomery County is the high quality of life, most of which is made possible through the nonprofit community. Although we all use nonprofits—and also often volunteer our time and money to them—few of us know the impact of the nonprofit community, whether in job creation, personal income tax generation, leverage of public and private dollars, cost savings and the strengthening of our communities and our county.

• Nonprofits also, of course, provide the social safety net for our most vulnerable citizens. While many people inside and outside the county still think of Montgomery County as a homogenous, affluent bedroom community, this image no longer reflects the shared lives and aspirations of the most diverse county in Maryland. The hardships faced by many of our neighbors, a growing number of whom live at or below poverty, are growing due to current economic realities, including the loss of homes and apartments, jobs, and health care insurance. These hardships are occurring now, in a period when Montgomery County government faces a projected $401 million budget deficit for FY’09

• Although nonprofits are part of our community and our lives in more ways than most people ever realize, it is still important to ask: what is the economic impact of nonprofits in Montgomery County and the State of Maryland? Government partners are facing difficult choices. Smart investments in the community matter even more. Montgomery County is facing a projected $401 million budget shortfall.

Economic Impact – Working in partnership with business, government and concerned citizens, nonprofits have a substantial impact on the economic base of Montgomery County.

• Nonprofit employment accounts for 8.31 percent of total private employment in Montgomery County. From 1998 to 2005, nonprofit employment in the county grew 22.11 percent as compared to total employment growth of 9.8 percent. Nonprofit wages in the same period grew 68.7 percent compared to total wage growth of 45.2 percent.

• In 2005, Montgomery County nonprofits generated $1.7 million in wages or 6.3 percent of the County’s total wages.

• Statewide, Maryland’s nonprofits generated $9.9 billion in wages in 2005, or more than 8 percent of the state’s total payroll. These wages translated into an estimated $450 million of personal income tax revenue for Maryland’s state and local governments and approximately $1.9 billion in federal tax revenues.


Return on Investment – Working in partnership with business, government, philanthropy and concerned citizens, nonprofits save money, multiply every dollar they receive and strengthen our county and our communities.


Nonprofits save money by preventing and solving problems, immediately and in the long term.

• It costs the State of Maryland $25,000/year for each child who remains in the child welfare system. The nonprofit Adoptions Together works with the government to place children with families at an annual cost of just $7,200. It’s good for the child who benefits from having a permanent home and family and it is more cost-effective for Maryland.
• If 50% of elderly adults who receive in-home care from Jewish Social Services Agency (JSSA) were instead placed in nursing homes, the total annual cost would be 15 times higher – or $96 million a year – than the $6 million it costs for JSSA to provide services and keep those 1,000 elders in their homes.

Nonprofits have a truly amazing multiplier effect on the financial resources they receive from individuals, corporations, government, and foundations, primarily through accessing other funding sources, using volunteers and take full advantage of donated goods and services.

• Manna Food Center turns each dollar of cash into $5 worth of food through food donations and distribution. Manna serves 2,000 families each month with donations from grocery stores, community food drives, individuals, and the USDA surplus food program.

• Interfaith Works has a $47,000 contract supporting the Interfaith Clothing Center and Up-county Interfaith Clothing Center. This $47,000 contract leverages $230,000 in contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations. It results in contributions of clothing and household goods valued at $3.4M and 19,900 hours of volunteer service. The program served 14,548 individuals last year. The opportunity to access services at the centers helps families pay their less forgiving bills such as rent and utilities.

• The Arts and Humanities Council report that more than 11,000 volunteers contributed close to 800,000 hours in 2001 at a value of $11.2 million.
  

Nonprofits strengthen our community by connecting people to each other, to services and to issues that matter to all of us.

• The United States has more soccer players than any other nation, and soccer is the fastest growing team sport in the country. No other sport crosses so many cultural boundaries. MSI, the largest youth sports organization in Montgomery County, provides 15,000 young people with the chance to play soccer, regardless of age, location, income, or physical ability. MSI receives no County funding and contributes to the maintenance and development of soccer fields at county public schools and parks.
  
  
• IMPACT Silver Spring educates and trains diverse residents in leadership and advocacy so that they can work across lines of race, class, and culture on challenging community issues. Parents who participate in IMPACT’s Parent Training Institute learn how to get involved in their children’s education, join action teams at local schools, creating parent groups for immigrant parents, collaborating with administrators to make school-wide improvements, and making PTAs more inclusive. Last year, IMPACT engaged 200 minority, low-income parents – many of them immigrants – in five schools.
  
  
• In 1990, Imagination Stage in Bethesda pioneered its innovative approach to bringing together deaf and hearing students in the same classes and productions. Last year, more than 1,000 children and young adults participated in its Deaf Access programs and exhibit tours, along with more than 20,000 audience members.
  
  
• Identity, serving up-county Latino youth, is working to challenge negative stereotypes often associated with Latinos throughout the county. Youth volunteers are actively engaged in developing peer networks and in contributing to the general community, including volunteering. They are also engaging their parents in community activism, especially in their schools.
  
  
• The Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland is a state-of-the-art 1,976-seat concert hall and education center. Supported by a public and private venture between the State of Maryland, Montgomery County, and corporate and individual philanthropists, the Strathmore offers audiences an impressive range of arts programming through its founding partners: the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Washington Performing Arts Society, National Philharmonic, Levine School of Music, CityDance Ensemble, and Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra.