A sample of national nonprofit organizations drawn from the national
Encyclopedia of Associations (1988) is examined. Principal findings
include that these organizations have recently grown at 3.6 percent per
year; are mainly work or leisure oriented; have a mean age of eighteen
years (younger than in a 1975 study); have mainly individual (rather
than organizational) memberships, a median size of 445 (much higher
for individuals than organizations), and small staffs (median estimated to
be zero); and show declining concentration in the Washington, D.C.,
New York City, and Chicago metropolitan areas as a set (but a rise in
Washington, D.C., locations). Some interpretations of the data are offered.
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