Why is the Census so important to the nonprofit community?

Lower income and more mobile populations, precisely those served by many nonprofits, are frequently undercounted by the census, leading to underfunding of critical services and infrastructure and under-representation in government.  Nonprofits can play an important role in making sure their communities are fully and accurately counted by educating them on the importance of the census and how to participate.  The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network (NVEN) is committed to providing tools and resources to help nonprofits engage their communities in the 2010 census through our Nonprofits Count! campaign.

How is Census Data Used?

The data collected by the Census next year will be used to determine a host of issues critical to the nonprofits community, including but not limited to:

• Decisions about what community services to provide, and how to distribute over $300 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year for the next 10 years!  Examples include spending on:
  • Title 1 grants to educational agencies
    (school districts across the nation)
  • Head Start programs
  • Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (food grants)
  • Public transportation
  • Road rehabilitation and construction
  • Programs for the elderly
  • Emergency food and shelter
  • Empowerment zone
• The drawing of Congressional, State House and State Senate district lines
• Distribution of Congressional seats to states

These are just a few examples of the ways in which Census data will be used in the next decade.

To learn more about Census 2010 visit the Census webiste's page on What is the Census or our Toolkit page.