The Change Lab — U.S. Civic Landscape Report

U.S. Civic Landscape Report

September 12, 2025

This report quantifies the civic landscape across The Change Lab's seven focus areas using IRS/NTEE-anchored directories (Cause IQ), labor statistics (BLS), and national volunteering data (AmeriCorps/Census). Within each focus area, we selected disjoint categories to minimize double counting. Cross-domain overlap still exists; treat these figures as a conservative floor.

1

Executive Highlights

75.7M
Neighbors who volunteered
Formal volunteers, Sept 2022–Sept 2023
4.99B
Volunteer hours (last year)
AmeriCorps/Census
13.7M
Volunteer hours per day
Derived: 4.99B ÷ 365
9,494
Volunteer hours per minute
Every minute of every day
12.8M
Nonprofit employment
BLS, 2022
10%
Share of private-sector jobs
BLS, 2022
90,837
Local governments (units)
2022 Census of Governments
100K+
Volunteer opportunities
Idealist/VolunteerMatch network
2

Organization Landscape by Focus Area

Note:

Counts are the sum of disjoint categories within each focus area; do not sum across focus areas.

Community, Culture & Belonging
729,842
Education & Opportunity
397,367
Basic Needs & Economic Security
298,214
Systems Change & Structural Power
201,498
Health, Wellness & Care
112,461
Environment & Infrastructure
97,946
Governance, Rights & Democracy
40,481
3

Top Categories in Each Focus Area

Basic Needs & Economic Security

Human service organizations 162,176
Unions & employment organizations 49,179
Housing providers & shelters 39,520

Community, Culture & Belonging

Religious organizations 357,125
Recreation, sports & social clubs 159,785
Arts, culture & humanities nonprofits 135,076

Education & Opportunity

Educational institutions (all) 260,881
Student service providers 70,490
PTAs 41,937

Environment & Infrastructure

Environmental organizations 32,363
Public safety organizations 27,297
Disaster relief organizations 19,481

Governance, Rights & Democracy

Crime & legal aid orgs (all) 19,338
Civil rights & social justice orgs 16,643
Legal aid societies 2,788

Health, Wellness & Care

Health organizations (incl. hospitals/clinics) 52,595
Mental health organizations 31,152
Disease-focused nonprofits 22,712

Systems Change & Structural Power

Foundations (grantmaking) 191,732
Scientific research centers 7,569
Social science research centers 2,197
4

Methodology & Caveats

  • Organization counts: Cause IQ directories (IRS/NTEE mapping). Distinct subcategories per focus area to limit internal double-counting.
  • People & volunteering: BLS (2022) and AmeriCorps/Census (2022–2023). Derived "per-day" and "per-minute" from annual hours.
  • Live opportunities: Idealist/VolunteerMatch public claims — consider these a floor.
5

Full Sources

https://www.causeiq.com/directory/ https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/nonprofits-accounted-for-12-8-million-jobs-9-9-percent-of-private-sector-employment-in-2022.htm https://www.bls.gov/bdm/nonprofits/nonprofits.htm https://www.americorps.gov/newsroom/press-release/more-757-million-people-volunteered-america-americorps-reports https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/11/civic-engagement-and-volunteerism.html https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/how-to-get-started-volunteering https://www.idealist.org/en/about/idealist-and-volunteermatch-announce-merger https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/2024/march/local-governments-us-number-type