The Ecology of US Education Nonprofits

While many acknowledge that nonprofits influence education, we know little about how many there are, where they cluster, when they emerged, and what types exist. Without empirical data, we are limited in understanding their role in education. Using data from 233,897 US nonprofits, we note 29 types grouped within three clusters: educational institutions, professional school improvement organizations, and associational groups. Spatially, they are prevalent in large states and cities, but the top 500 cities only make up half of them. Temporally, there has also been an explosion of education nonprofits founded since 2010—driven by professional rather than associational organizations. The study also highlights the intricacies of using quantitative tax data for future research.