Nonprofit organizations reported $6.17 trillion in total assets and $3.03 trillion in total revenue in the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-year 2022 sample. The figures show a sector with substantial program activity, varied funding sources, significant investment holdings, and wide differences in organizational scale.
Contents
- Scale and asset distribution
- What nonprofit assets include
- Liabilities and net assets
- Revenue sources
- Earned income, investments, and asset sales
- Expenses, fundraising, and operating results
Scale and asset distribution
The IRS sample contains 248,791 Form 990 returns for tax year 2022. These returns reported $6,174,766,718 thousand in total assets. The totals are estimates based on samples and are expressed in thousands of dollars; they are not a census of every nonprofit organization.
The asset distribution is highly uneven. The largest asset category in the table, organizations with $50 million or more in assets, includes 10,871 returns and $5,324,192,700 thousand in assets. By contrast, 30,333 returns from organizations with less than $100,000 in assets reported $1,305,874 thousand.
| Total-asset category | Returns | Reported assets (thousand dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| Less than $100,000 | 30,333 | $1,305,874 |
| $100,000 under $500,000 | 62,017 | $17,325,248 |
| $500,000 under $1 million | 37,838 | $27,288,051 |
| $1 million under $10 million | 83,692 | $280,522,141 |
| $10 million under $50 million | 24,040 | $524,132,705 |
| $50 million or more | 10,871 | $5,324,192,700 |
The middle categories also represent a large number of reporting organizations. Returns from organizations with $100,000 under $500,000 in assets totaled $17,325,248 thousand across 62,017 returns. Organizations with $500,000 under $1 million reported $27,288,051 thousand across 37,838 returns. The $1 million under $10 million group included 83,692 returns and $280,522,141 thousand in assets, while the $10 million under $50 million group included 24,040 returns and $524,132,705 thousand.
These figures are from Table 1. Form 990 Returns of 501(c)(3) Organizations: Balance Sheet and Income Statement Items, by Size of Total Assets, Tax Year 2022, published by the IRS Statistics of Income Division in September 2025. The table covers Form 990 returns of 501(c)(3), 527, or 4947(a)(1) organizations except private foundations. Most organizations with receipts under $50,000, most churches, and certain other religious organizations are excluded.
What nonprofit assets include
The balance sheet shows that nonprofit assets extend well beyond cash. Reporting organizations held $227,280,143 thousand in non-interest-bearing cash and $365,175,074 thousand in savings and temporary cash investments. Together, these categories describe $592,455,217 thousand in immediately recognizable cash and near-cash holdings, although the IRS notes that detail may not add to totals because of rounding.
Receivables were another important part of the reported balance sheet. Pledges and grants receivable totaled $132,747,523 thousand. Accounts receivable totaled $281,873,598 thousand, and notes and loans receivable totaled $113,718,036 thousand. These categories reflect amounts reported as due to organizations, not necessarily cash already available for current operations.
Property and investments made up substantial portions of the asset picture. Net land, buildings, and equipment totaled $1,404,428,323 thousand. Investments in public securities totaled $1,428,184,150 thousand, while investments in other securities totaled $1,348,328,245 thousand. Program-related investments totaled $126,545,393 thousand. The table also recorded $617,308,877 thousand in other assets.
For community leaders, this mix matters because organizations can look financially strong on a balance sheet while holding assets that serve different purposes. Cash supports near-term liquidity; receivables depend on collection; property supports operations; and investments may be held for reserves, endowment-like purposes, or other long-term needs. The IRS data reports the amounts but does not establish how readily each asset can be used.
Liabilities and net assets
The organizations in the sample reported $2,208,387,601 thousand in total liabilities and $3,966,379,117 thousand in total net assets. Those figures accompany the $6,174,766,718 thousand in total assets reported for the sample. Because the IRS presents estimates from a sample and detail may not add perfectly to totals because of rounding, these should be read as published aggregate estimates.
Accounts payable and accrued expenses totaled $391,101,871 thousand. Grants payable totaled $24,862,034 thousand, while deferred revenue totaled $128,964,379 thousand. These obligations represent different timing and operating considerations: unpaid expenses, grants committed for payment, and revenue recognized in advance.
The table also recorded $483,554,579 thousand in tax-exempt bond liabilities, $394,585,183 thousand in secured mortgages and notes payable, and $101,412,960 thousand in unsecured notes and loans payable. The separate categories show that nonprofit financial obligations can include both operating liabilities and longer-term financing connected with facilities, programs, or other activities.
Net assets are not the same as unrestricted cash. The reported $3,966,379,117 thousand in total net assets can include property, investments, receivables, and assets subject to donor restrictions or other limitations. The IRS table provides the aggregate balance-sheet categories; it does not provide a single measure of how much funding each organization could spend immediately.
Revenue sources
Total revenue for the reporting organizations was $3,028,040,286 thousand. Program service revenue was the largest named source at $2,108,586,084 thousand. Contributions, gifts, and grants totaled $756,122,073 thousand, including $305,067,921 thousand in government grants reported as contributions and $396,071,863 thousand in all other contributions, gifts, and grants.
Other reported revenue categories were smaller in aggregate but still reveal the variety of nonprofit funding models. Membership dues totaled $4,534,481 thousand. Fundraising-event revenue totaled $10,718,452 thousand. Contributions from related organizations totaled $37,824,104 thousand, and federated-campaign revenue totaled $1,905,251 thousand. Other revenue totaled $36,513,435 thousand.
The revenue categories should not be treated as interchangeable. Program service revenue may arise from the activities that deliver an organization’s mission, while grants and contributions may carry restrictions, reporting conditions, or different timing. Membership dues, fundraising events, related-organization contributions, and federated campaigns likewise represent distinct relationships with participants, donors, partners, or networks.
The figures also show why a single label such as “donor funded” can obscure the financial structure of a nonprofit. Government grants reported as contributions and all other contributions, gifts, and grants are reported separately in the IRS table. Program service revenue is also separately identified, and it is the largest of these named revenue categories in the 2022 sample.
Earned income, investments, and asset sales
Investment income totaled $60,689,648 thousand. Net rental income was $5,364,124 thousand, supported by $9,692,161 thousand in gross real-estate rents and $4,385,890 thousand in real-estate rental expense. These amounts describe income and related expense categories reported for the sample, not a universal operating model for every organization.
Asset sales also contributed to reported results. Net gain from sales of assets totaled $44,527,944 thousand. Within that amount, net gain from sales of securities totaled $32,715,570 thousand, alongside gross securities sales of $866,357,388 thousand. Gross sales volume is not the same as net gain: the former describes sales before the relevant costs or basis reflected in the table, while the latter is the reported result.
Inventory activity was another distinct category. Net income from sales of inventory totaled $8,484,128 thousand, and gross sales of inventory totaled $22,690,148 thousand. As with securities, gross sales and net income are different measures and should not be added together as if they represented separate net revenue streams.
For board members and community stakeholders, these categories can be useful when assessing whether year-end results reflect recurring operations or nonrecurring financial activity. The IRS data identifies the reported amounts for tax year 2022 but does not classify each organization’s income as recurring, restricted, or strategically available.
Expenses, fundraising, and operating results
Total expenses were $2,909,411,470 thousand. Program-service expenses accounted for $2,532,011,704 thousand, while management and general expenses totaled $348,635,149 thousand. Fundraising expenses totaled $28,764,618 thousand. These categories provide a broad view of how reported spending was assigned across mission delivery, administration, and fundraising.
Fundraising activity has more than one measure in the table. Gross fundraising income was $6,699,079 thousand, and fundraising expenses reported separately from gross fundraising income were $5,168,594 thousand. Gross gaming income was $5,497,988 thousand, compared with gaming expenses of $5,041,738 thousand. Cost of goods sold was $14,206,020 thousand.
The excess of revenue over expenses was $118,628,816 thousand for the reporting organizations. This is an aggregate year-end operating result for the sample and tax year; it is not a forecast, a reserve target, or a measure of financial health for every nonprofit. It also should not be interpreted as cash generated, because the broader financial statements include noncash items, receivables, investments, property, liabilities, and other reported categories.
Taken together, the IRS tax-year 2022 statistics show a nonprofit sector that combines very small organizations with a much smaller number of asset-rich organizations, relies heavily on program service revenue in aggregate, and carries substantial property, investment, and liability balances. The figures are estimates based on sampled Form 990 returns, exclude several important groups, and may not add to totals because of rounding; those scope limits are essential when using them to inform community leadership decisions.