Philanthropy, Demographics, and Growth in US Islamic Nonprofits: Evidence from IRS Form 990

Abstract

An analysis of national-level data shows that Muslim nonprofits are relatively younger, smaller, located in more diverse urban settings, and growing more rapidly both in number and in contributions received compared with other religious and nonreligious nonprofits. No prior studies appear to have summarized national-level data on giving to US charitable organizations affiliated with Islam. As a first attempt to address this gap, this descriptive study compares the characteristics of Muslim-affiliated nonprofits to those of Christian-affiliated, Jewish-affiliated, and all other nonprofits using a dataset of e-filed IRS Form 990s with classifications using keywords appearing in organizational names or mission statements. Muslim nonprofits grew in number at a faster rate, were newer, spent less on fundraising as a percentage of total contributions, and received less in total contributions. However, when controlling for other organizational factors, Muslim nonprofits experienced significantly greater growth in total contributions than did Christian, Jewish, or other nonprofits. Finally, Muslim-affiliated organization were more likely to be headquartered in demographically younger, more diverse, urban settings.