Nonprofits Count! is a program of the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network.

In March of 2010 the U.S. Census will mail forms to 110 million households in order to obtain an accurate count of the nation’s 300 million residents. The challenge of such an undertaking is formidable, no more so than for “hard-to-count” populations such as children in poverty, racial and language minorities, recent immigrants, renters, low-income communities and those foreclosed on or living in a growing number of multi-family households. For states, the ability to accurately count these hard-to-count populations will impact a decade of federal funding, political representation, the allocation of human services and locations of new hospitals, roads, transit, schools and more.

Harnessing America’s Nonprofits for the Census Count

No sector in America is better positioned to meet the challenge of obtaining an accurate and complete count of hard-to-count communities than the country’s one million nonprofits and human service agencies. Nonprofits serve millions every day in fields of health, education, family and children services, youth, immigrants and new citizens, literacy, emergency food and housing, disabilities, the arts and more.  These nonprofit and service agencies have civic engagement assets well-suited for the multiple tasks of the Census, prominently -

• A density among hard-to-count populations
• Daily contacts with clients, constituents, members including an estimated 14 million employees, 61 million volunteers and 100+ million people served
• Trust and good will among their communities
• Social missions and committed staff, boards and volunteers
• Cultural competency as a sector both well-versed in and respectful of the concerns of populations from many backgrounds
• Above all, the ability to integrate census education and outreach into services already provided, and activities already planned.

Nonprofits Count! 2010

The Nonprofits Count! campaign will energize and engage nonprofits to take every opportunity to promote a complete count in the multiplicity of everyday contacts they already have and services they already provide. For busy nonprofits with greater demand for their services, it is essential that each step of the campaign be something they can achieve without taking away from constituent services.

The Nonprofits Count! 2010 Campaign includes:

• Census Engagement Trainings: Trainings will cover what the census is, why it’s important and what each individual can do. Nonprofit unable to attend regional trainings can log on to web based trainings or “webinars” that our partner states will conduct with frequency as 2010 approaches. Our state hubs will also inform nonprofits of trainings offered by local census offices.
• Materials:
  • Fact Sheets
  • Census SWAG – T-shirts, buttons, stickers, posters and more
  • Web and E-activities: Every state will have the benefit of our national nonprofit census website www.nonprofitscount.org with state specific information for the 50 states.
  • Funding:  Our State Nonprofit Census Hubs will provide mini-grants to nonprofits for census activities – in partnership with local Complete Count Committees and Census offices
  • Translations for main Census materials
  • Mapping of hard to count areas and local impacts of an undercount.