The Forbes Funds, in their publication Five Things You Need to Know about the Nonprofit Sector in Southwestern Pennsylvania." notes "the 2,674 financially active nonprofits operating in metro Pittsburgh spend about $12 billion annually on the well being of the region... While it should be noted that "typical" organizations spend about $463,000 annually, the region's nonprofits nonetheless collectively hold $23 billion in assets and $14 billion in net assets. Unquestionably, the fiduciaries of these assets represent a political, social, and economic force." That same publication notes that local nonprofit leaders, given their position on the frontlines, are perhaps better positioned than most to know the severity of the problems facing our region, and among these leaders, "87% think our quality of education is a serious problem; 79% deem hunger a serious problem; and 69% consider affordable housing to be a serious problem."

Despite a strong, highly functioning nonprofit sector, we clearly still have work to do. In his book, Good To Great, Jim Collins notes that "Good is the enemy of great...The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good-and that is their main problem." We subscribe to this belief, and we work with nonprofits that strive to be great. We believe that by working with such innovative nonprofits to launch earned income ventures, we can help make Pittsburgh a model for other regions around the world that want to positively impact their communities and transform their local economies through the nonprofit sector.