Billions in Nonprofit Projects Halted by Credit Crisis

Office of News and Information - Johns Hopkins University - 901 South Bond Street, Suite 540 - Baltimore, Maryland 21231 - Phone: 443-287-9960 | Fax: 443-287-9920 Billions in Nonprofit Projects Halted by - Credit Crisis - Johns Hopkins researchers estimate $166 billion in - infrastructure projects delayed nationwide. Like state and local governments and private businesses, America's 1.4 million nonprofit organizations have many major "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects on hold because of the credit crisis, according to a new survey by the Johns Hopkins University Nonprofit Listening Post Project. For a country eager to promote employment, these projects offer an inviting target. Nonprofits always struggle to generate investment capital due to their nonprofit status and their inability to access the equity markets, but the survey results show that the recession has compounded their woes: The 1,837 organizations surveyed identified 1,065 shovel-ready projects stalled by the inability to secure financing. A state-by-state listing of these projects is at www.jhu.edu/listeningpost/news . The organizations that participated in the survey differ widely in size, cover all regions, and represent a diverse array of fields, including children and family services, elderly services and housing, community development, arts and culture, and others. Based on survey results, the researchers estimate that even excluding hospitals and higher education, which were not covered in this survey, nonprofit organizations nationwide have over $166 billion worth of community infrastructure projects ready to go if funding were available.