Nonprofit Sector Impact Report
Nonprofit Montgomery
The Context
With a mission to strengthen nonprofits in Montgomery County (MD), Nonprofit Montgomery builds leadership capacity, advocates for the sector, and catalyzes action to solve the county’s toughest challenges. Recognizing the significant complexities facing the sector, in the fall of 2024, Nonprofit Montgomery was poised to elevate the impact and challenges of nonprofits in the County. In response to that need, Nonprofit Montgomery partnered with Sharp Insight to gather new and existing county data and develop a report that highlights the impact of nonprofits for a range of county leaders in nonprofits, foundations, local government, and private industry.
Our Approach
Working in close partnership with Nonprofit Montgomery, Sharp Insight supported a mixed methods design for the 2025 State of Nonprofits report. Our team began with a detailed review of existing county data from sources such as the Internal Revenue Service, the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and Montgomery County, MD Profile, and Maryland Nonprofits resources, among others. We then researched issues facing the national and local nonprofit community landscape through sources such as through the National Council of Nonprofits, Maryland Nonprofits, and several articles. For original data collection, in the fall of 2024, Sharp Insight developed a survey, the Montgomery County Nonprofit Needs Assessment, which was completed by 55 member organizations of Nonprofit Montgomery.
Recognizing how important it would be for recommendations to be co-developed with the Nonprofit Montgomery, following initial drafts of the report, Nonprofit Montgomery worked as a leadership team to gather internal and external feedback on the recommendations. Finally, in lieu of a traditional executive summary, Sharp Insight and Nonprofit Montgomery chose a more strategic approach by developing a 2-page Call to Action.
The Result
Grounded in existing research and a customized nonprofit needs assessment, Sharp Insight developed The 2025 State of Nonprofits in Montgomery County, Maryland. The report highlights the County’s nonprofit landscape, workforce and economic impact, strengths and challenges, and emerging trends for an even more influential and effective sector. The Call to Action is a brief supplement to the report specifically designed to engage policy makers and funders by summarizing four key recommendations to advance the nonprofit sector over the next decade. In the spring of 2025, these reports were released at a press conference in Silver Spring, Maryland, followed by a Nonprofit Expo representing capacity building organizations in the region. Since then, the report recommendations resulted in the formation of a County Council Advisory Working Group on County Grants as well as raised awareness of challenges facing nonprofits throughout the county and beyond.
