LESS THAN ONE percent, or under 750 people working in all Irish nonprofits are paid over €70,000, a report on Irish nonprofits has said.

The report compiled by Benefacts is based on the publicly available filings of Ireland’s entire population of nonprofit companies, which includes registered charities.

Of that cohort of nonprofits, 44% is made up of 44% of quasi-public bodies.

There’s a marked contrast in the pay between the 69,000 people employed in 330 quasi‑public bodies and the 89,000 employed in all 4,200 other nonprofits for which employment data is available.

Of the nonprofit quasi-public bodies, 10% of that sector earn over €70,000 a year; in the rest of the nonprofit sector (56%) 0.8% receive pay of over €70,000.

Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector

The report threw up a number of interesting findings, including that 80% of the economic turnover of the not-for-profit sector is concentrated in 3.5% of the largest organisations (i.e. universities and voluntary hospitals, etc).

Unsurprisingly, the government is the biggest source of funding for nonprofits, accounting for €5.5 billion.

At about €103 million donations are from Irish and international philanthropic institutions, and represents a tiny fraction of the sector’s €12.1 billion turnover.

The nonprofit sector employs 158,000, and receives 8% of the Exchequer spend.

Who are these nonprofits?

The breakdown of Ireland’s 29,000 nonprofits per sector/genre, is as follows:

Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector

Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector

Here’s an interesting breakdown of where they are in the country:

Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector Understanding Ireland’s Third Sector

The author of the report, Benefacts managing director Patricia Quinn, said that because the nonprofits sector is “so large and diverse, it is easy to miss the economic significance of this sector”.

But it would be wrong simply to represent this sector in terms of economic metrics.

Nonprofits of all kinds, small as well as large, define the kind of society we have made for ourselves and our families to live in.

“Besides giving expression to a myriad of cultural and recreational interests, they provide an essential social infrastructure for civic engagement, empowerment, advocacy and community building” she said.

You can find the report on the Benefacts website here.

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