In June of 2008, when the Boston Foundation published its first major report on the state of the nonprofit sector in Massachusetts, called Passion & Purpose, one of the goals was to explore ways to enhance this powerful sector’s financial viability and maximize its impact. The data in the report uncovered the strength and the vulnerabilities of the sector. With $87 billion in revenues, $207 billion in assets, and close to 450,000 workers, the Massachusetts nonprofit sector emerged as a major economic force. But the impact of the sector’s growth—combined with a lack of growth in financial support and increasing community need—had taken its toll, resulting in a weakening economic condition. By 2007, the sector had just about recovered from the recession that started in 2001 and worsened after 9/11. We had no way of knowing, of course, that the next recession was just around the corner—and that it would be the most serious economic downturn since World War II. 

Passion & Purpose: Restructuring, Repositioning and Reinventing: Crisis in Massachusetts Nonprofit Sector, details the impact of the ongoing economic crisis on the region’s nonprofit organizations, identifying trends toward increased strategic alliances and mergers as financial support form all sources continues to shrink.  It builds on the findings of the Foundation’s in-depth report on the sector published in June 2008.

Read the press release about the forum.