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Research

Scope of the Arizona Nonprofit Sector

Nonprofits at a glance

Arizona is home to a vibrant nonprofit sector comprising over 28,000 registered tax-exempt organizations. The vast majority of these (24,564) are 501(c)(3) charitable organizations.

These organizations deliver vital human services, educate youth, preserve the natural world, and provide forums for worship, activism, and artistic expression.

Most of Arizona's 501(c)(3) organizations are public charities, but the state's private foundations number over 1,000.

Arizona's nonprofit sector reaches beyond charitable organizations and includes nearly 4,000 other registered nonprofits, including social welfare organizations and business leagues.

Arizona nonprofit subsectors

The diversity of the nonprofit world suggests that subsectors of the data may be useful for analysis. We can divide the nonprofit sector into four subsectors: healthcare organizations, religious organizations, education organizations and all other "core" nonprofits. Nonprofit healthcare organizations include large providers such as Banner Health and Honor Health, regional medical facilities, and medical clinics. Educational nonprofits include Grand Canyon University, University of Arizona Global Campus, and Prescott College serving higher education needs, plus many, but not all charter schools for primary and secondary students. Many private schools are also organized as nonprofits. The religious nonprofit subsector includes congregations of many faiths plus foundations and missionary groups.

Source: IRS 2022

  Total nonprofit orgs Orgs with no reported income Orgs with reported income Reported income (millions)
Arizona Total 28,379 19,476 8,903 $58,139
Core Nonprofits 21,912 14,114 7,798 $25,040
Nonprofit Healthcare 359 150 209 $28,226
Nonprofit Education 483 108 375 $4,294
Nonprofit Religious 5,625 5,104 521 $634

 

These distinctions were made largely due to the wide range of income by these groups. The 7,798 organizations in the Core Nonprofit subsector that reported income to the IRS had a median annual income of $185,146. The Healthcare and Education subsectors had median incomes of $1.46 million and $2.96 million, respectively. Only 521 of the 5,625 religious organizations reported any income since they are largely exempt from IRS reporting requirements. The few religious groups that did report income showed a median income of $144,310.

Read more about Arizona's charitable organizations and other nonprofits, and view interactive charts, by clicking the links in the menu to the right.

Arizona nonprofits: how many and how much

By major subsection codes

B=Billion, M=Million
Note: Revenue and Assets figures represent 990 filers only
Source: IRS 2022

  Total # 990 Filers Revenue Assets
Total Nonprofits in Arizona 28,379 10,142 $49.11B $90.16B
-501(c)(3) - Charitable Organizations 24,564 8,464 $44.16B $69.93B
--Public Charities 23,131 7,031 $42.89B $62.59B
--Private Foundations 1,433 1,433 $1.26B $7.33B
-Other Nonprofits 3,815 1,678 $4.95B $20.23B
--501(c)(4) - Social Welfare 1,059 376 $701.85M $1.70B
--501(c)(6) - Business Leagues 820 523 $500.77M $711.87M
--All Other Nonprofits 1,936 779 $3.74B $17.81B

 

By county

B=Billion, M=Million
Note: Revenue and Assets figures represent 990 filers only
Source: IRS 2022

County Number of Nonprofits 990 Filers Revenue Assets
Maricopa 16,673 6,306 $38.61B $69.84B
Pima 4,474 1,657 $4.58B $10.06B
Yavapai 1,512 496 $962.84M $1.82B
Pinal 1,449 362 $261.35M $405.17M
Coconino 794 314 $1.33B $2.37B
Cochise 718 188 $471.34M $966.28M
Mohave 744 195 $609.87M $840.34M
Yuma 499 158 $1.00B $1.58B
Navajo 419 114 $632.46M $997.06M
Gila 327 116 $118.36M $235.92M
Santa Cruz 253 88 $99.66M $95.88M
Apache 207 55 $109.84M $321.40M
Graham 174 57 $278.00M $563.44M
La Paz 103 28 $37.17M $41.12M
Greenlee 33 8 $4.64M $12.58M

By organization type

B=Billion, M=Million
Note: Revenue and Assets figures represent 990 filers only
Source: IRS 2022

Classification Number of Nonprofits Number of 990 filers Revenue Assets
No NTEE recorded 803 242 $130.87M $158.35M
Unknown 129 42 $3.23M $30.29M
Subtotal w/no NTEE 932 284 $134.1M $188.64M
Animal-Related 1,078 376 $338.52M $637.26M
Arts, Culture, and Humanities 1,877 670 $476.34M $1.29B
Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy 209 106 $184.24M $211.63M
Community Improvement, Capacity Building 1,695 829 $879.69M $1.65B
Crime, Legal-Related 271 113 $154.49M $186.34M
Diseases, Disorders, Medical Disciplines 244 104 $152.90M $391.42M
Educational Institutions and Related Activities 4,287 1640 $5.88B $11.81B
Employment, Job-Related 480 232 $2.54B $4.53B
Environmental Quality, Protection and Beautification 474 169 $193.96M $374.03M
Food, Agriculture and Nutrition 262 111 $619.65M $248.38M
Health – General and Rehabilitative 924 443 $27.58B $32.87B
Housing, Shelter 440 275 $504.84M $2.29B
Human Services – Multipurpose and Other 2,532 1005 $2.62B $6.24B
International, Foreign Affairs and National Security 342 149 $252.31M $112.02M
Medical Research 137 81 $260.36M $490.76M
Mental Health, Crisis Intervention 463 188 $1.20B $944.61M
Mutual/Membership Benefit Organizations, Other 516 199 $559.69M $1.05B
Philanthropy, Voluntarism and Grantmaking Foundations 1,676 1184 $1.57B $8.14B
Public Safety, Disaster Preparedness and Relief 239 74 $393.85M $245.61M
Public, Society Benefit – Multipurpose and Other 809 276 $826.31M $12.65B
Recreation, Sports, Leisure, Athletics 2,383 744 $526.93M $1.36B
Religion-Related, Spiritual Development 5,292 608 $478.04M $810.16M
Science and Technology Research Institutes, Services 121 43 $573.79M $982.05M
Social Science Research Institutes, Services 33 15 $18.67M $83.72M
Youth Development 663 224 $167.73M $336.31M

 

Arizona's Nonprofit Sector draws upon the most recently available data from several sources. The total number of nonprofit organizations is reported from the IRS registry of tax-exempt organizations, downloaded in February 2024.

* Religious congregations are not required to register with the IRS or file a 990 of any kind, although some of them do. Therefore both the total numbers and financial information for congregations (and therefore the overall totals) are under-reported.

For details on data sources, methodologies, and limitations, please see the Glossary and Sources.