MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A new study says Middle Tennessee’s non-profit sector is t and contributes, directly or indirectly, nearly $21 billion each year to the local economy each year.
The study was conducted by the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University for Nashville’s Center for Non-Profit Management.
Dr. Murat Arik, the report's author, says that about one-in-four Middle Tennessee residents are employed in the non-profit sector.
“Non-profit sector is a big business, with 150,000 jobs in the Nashville MSA area.”
The work of the mid-state’s non-profits is strongly supported by area residents. Arik says roughly one person in four volunteers time to a non-profit. He says all that free labor is worth a lot to area organizations.
“Based on our estimates it’s a $1 billion – with a “b” – billion dollar business in the Nashville MSA.”
One of the more interesting findings of the study is that non-profits act like money-magnets, drawing about $2.7 billion dollars to the mid-state from outside sources.