Helping Others Thrive: Celebrating National Nonprofit Day
Every August 17, organizations and individuals across the country pause to observe National Nonprofit Day. The day was first established in 2017 to recognize the impact nonprofit organizations have on communities and to encourage people to get involved in supporting their missions. That kind of recognition is well deserved, and it becomes even more meaningful when you look at just how large and far reaching the nonprofit sector truly is.
The Significance of Nonprofits
According to the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO) 2025 Economic Impact Report, Pennsylvania is home to nearly 65,000 active nonprofits that employ more than 817,000 people and generates close to $140 billion in economic impact across the Commonwealth. On a national scale, these are some of the highest amounts in the country. The Independent Sector reports that 1.9 million registered nonprofits contributed over $1.5 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2024 (which is 5% of GDP) and employ roughly 9% of the country’s workforce. Nonprofits employ about the same number of individuals nationally as the entire manufacturing industry and just slightly below both retail trade and food services. Numbers like these are fascinating and tell an important story, but they only tell part of it. Accountants naturally love numbers, but behind every number is a food bank feeding a family, an arts program reaching a child, a developer that has provided housing stability to an elderly couple, or a shelter offering someone a second chance.
Helping Others Thrive
At McKonly & Asbury, National Nonprofit Day resonates with something at the very center of who we are. Our firm’s mission statement, Helping Others Thrive, is not just a statement on a wall. It shows in how M&A approaches its work with nonprofit clients each and every day. Rather than applying a one size fits all approach, our team members take the necessary time to understand each organization’s mission, its funding sources, and the specific pressures it faces, then builds a relationship around helping that organization thrive on its own terms.
Today, McKonly & Asbury serves more than 200 nonprofit organizations across Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic region, and beyond. M&A’s work with nonprofits is supported by a dedicated group of more than 25 team members who spend a significant portion of their time immersed in the nonprofit sector, understanding its unique accounting, audit, and compliance needs. For our Nonprofit team, working with nonprofits is about more than technical expertise. The work is personal as much as it is professional.
Jim Shellenberger, Partner and Director of Nonprofit Services at the Firm, put it this way:
National Nonprofit Day means a lot to me because it’s a reminder of why I chose this work in the first place. The nonprofit organizations we serve are not seen as only as clients, they are seen as the organizations doing the hard, often unseen, work of making our communities better. And they are doing some amazing things! Supporting their missions and finding ways to help them thrive, alongside my M&A team members, is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.
How to Get Involved
National Nonprofit Day is a fitting occasion to pause, reflect, and say thank you to the nonprofit organizations making a difference in our communities. But just one day is not really the point. The organizations being celebrated today need support all year long. That support can take a variety of forms, such as offering professional skills, volunteerism, fiscal donations, or simply sharing a nonprofit’s story with someone who has not heard it yet. Connections, relationships, and collaboration truly matter in this industry. It could also mean something quieter: taking a moment to think of a nonprofit that has touched your life personally and reaching out to let them know.
However you choose to participate, the invitation this National Nonprofit Day is simple: find one nonprofit. Find one way to help them thrive, not just today, but throughout the year ahead.
If you have questions about the information outlined above, please contact us; our seasoned and experienced nonprofit professionals are here to help. You can also learn more about our nonprofit services by visiting our Nonprofit industry page.
