President Joseph R. Biden 
The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 
Washington, DC 20500 
 
Dear President Biden, 
 
For almost four years, you and your administration have worked to rebuild a nation in which all people can thrive. The charitable sector — nonprofits and philanthropy — has been an indispensable partner to the federal government, working alongside it to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, help communities recover from a pandemic and racial violence, lift people’s spirits through faith and the arts, and rebuild the infrastructure of this nation. 

 
These accomplishments, and many others, have been possible, not only because of the strong partnership between the sector and the federal government, but because of a deeply dedicated workforce. We — the undersigned organizations and researchers — urge you to take executive action to support that workforce by directing the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to provide quarterly wage and jobs data on nonprofit organizations.  

As you know, a nation where all people thrive requires many things, including a healthy and trusted charitable sector. And the charitable sector relies on data — like any other sector — to ensure its health.  Our sector constitutes the economy’s third-largest employer providing 12.8 million jobs, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in August. Yet, unlike employers in for-profit industries — including many that are much smaller than nonprofits — we do not receive quarterly wage and employment data from BLS’ Quarterly Census on Employment and Wages (QCEW). Our sector is forced to wait five years or longer for data, and even the latest update provides information from two years ago. Unless things change, these data will not be updated for another five years. The resulting lack of current data means the charitable sector is unable to benchmark our outcomes against larger trends, or help policymakers understand challenges — like we saw during the pandemic — and craft responsive policy.  

This data inequity is profoundly unfair to our organizations and our workforce, two-thirds of which is female. More importantly, it serves the nation poorly by preventing BLS from advancing the mission statement in its 2020-2025 strategic plan to measure “labor market activity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision making.”  

There is still an opportunity to correct this problem and ensure the charitable sector receives the same critical BLS data that for-profit businesses can access on a regular basis. We ask that you take executive action to instruct BLS to include the charitable sector in the QCEW in order to address this data inequity on behalf of the nonprofit workforce and the communities we serve.  

There is still much work for us to do.  And we are always in a better position to make this a more perfect Union when nonprofits are working in deep partnership with government and industry.  Please take this final action to ensure the nonprofit workforce is strong and always ready to do that work. 

We look forward to working with you on this and other key priorities in the months ahead. 

Sincerely, 

 

Aspen Institute, Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation
Independent Sector
National Council of Nonprofits

 

President Joseph R. Biden 
The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 
Washington, DC 20500 
 
Dear President Biden, 
 
For almost four years, you and your administration have worked to rebuild a nation in which all people can thrive. The charitable sector — nonprofits and philanthropy — has been an indispensable partner to the federal government, working alongside it to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, help communities recover from a pandemic and racial violence, lift people’s spirits through faith and the arts, and rebuild the infrastructure of this nation. 

 
These accomplishments, and many others, have been possible, not only because of the strong partnership between the sector and the federal government, but because of a deeply dedicated workforce. We — the undersigned organizations and researchers — urge you to take executive action to support that workforce by directing the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to provide quarterly wage and jobs data on nonprofit organizations.  

As you know, a nation where all people thrive requires many things, including a healthy and trusted charitable sector. And the charitable sector relies on data — like any other sector — to ensure its health.  Our sector constitutes the economy’s third-largest employer providing 12.8 million jobs, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in August. Yet, unlike employers in for-profit industries — including many that are much smaller than nonprofits — we do not receive quarterly wage and employment data from BLS’ Quarterly Census on Employment and Wages (QCEW). Our sector is forced to wait five years or longer for data, and even the latest update provides information from two years ago. Unless things change, these data will not be updated for another five years. The resulting lack of current data means the charitable sector is unable to benchmark our outcomes against larger trends, or help policymakers understand challenges — like we saw during the pandemic — and craft responsive policy.  

This data inequity is profoundly unfair to our organizations and our workforce, two-thirds of which is female. More importantly, it serves the nation poorly by preventing BLS from advancing the mission statement in its 2020-2025 strategic plan to measure “labor market activity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision making.”  

There is still an opportunity to correct this problem and ensure the charitable sector receives the same critical BLS data that for-profit businesses can access on a regular basis. We ask that you take executive action to instruct BLS to include the charitable sector in the QCEW in order to address this data inequity on behalf of the nonprofit workforce and the communities we serve.  

There is still much work for us to do.  And we are always in a better position to make this a more perfect Union when nonprofits are working in deep partnership with government and industry.  Please take this final action to ensure the nonprofit workforce is strong and always ready to do that work. 

We look forward to working with you on this and other key priorities in the months ahead. 

Sincerely, 

 

Aspen Institute, Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation
Independent Sector
National Council of Nonprofits