DiNapoli Releases Report on Nonprofit Industry | Office of the New York State Comptroller
In January, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) released a report on the Critical Role of Nonprofits in New York State.
We are very appreciative that OSC has taken the time to study the importance of our sector in terms of the economic engine of New York State. There are over 1.3 million jobs produced by not for profit agencies in New York State. Just over 1 in every 6 private sector jobs in New York were at a nonprofit agency. The conclusion of the report said, “Policymakers should ensure contracts and payments with the State’s nonprofits are processed in a timely manner to ensure steady funding and avoid any disruption of the vital services the organizations provide.” We are in complete agreement with that finding.
Our concern with the study is that the category of not for profits captured in the report is much different than the not for profit, community-based, mental health agencies that we represent at MHANYS, as well as the entire human services sector. As part of their study, OSC includes nonprofit hospitals, health systems and academic institutions who are able to, and do, pay significantly higher salaries and fringe benefits to their employees. This completely skews the average salary of a not for profit employee, which is reported to be $71,881. This $71,881 average does not at all reflect the average salary of our sector. If you were to survey our sector, our numbers would likely be half of that.
We have met with OSC to explain our concern. They have heard our feedback and are willing to modify in future reports. Why this is important is that we don’t want policymakers thinking that our sector receives this kind of salary. We must continue to fight for 7.8% so that one day maybe our sector will reach those numbers.
