Charities and Other Tax-Exempt Organizations, 1994

T he revenue and assets of nonprofit charitableorganizations exempt under Internal Revenue Codesection 501(c)(3), excluding private foundations and most religious organizations, increased by 4 percent and 7 percent, respectively, over the comparable totals for 1993. Total revenue rose to $589.1 billion, of which the organizations ’ program service activities provided more than 70 percent ($422.4 billion). Total assets grew to $993.4 billion. There were nearly 175,000 returns filed, representing a 6-percent increase from the prior year (Figure A). In addition, statistics are presented in this article for organizations that are tax-exempt under Code sections 501(c)(4) through (9). They are diverse in both their functions and financial characteristics. Voluntary em-ployee benefit associations, exempt under section 501(c)(9), reported assets of $56.0 billion and revenue of $71.2 billion, which were larger than amounts registered by organizations classified by the other Code sections. The statistics for charities and other tax-exempt organi-zations shown in the article are based on data from Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, and Form 990-EZ, the short form of this information return. This latter form is for smaller organizations, those with gross receipts of less than $100,000 and end-of-year assets of less than $250,000 [1]